Chorus of Connections
by GGDude00
Summary: A fifteen-year-old girl named Kairi stumbles across a mysterious boy who showed up out of the blue, with no memory of who he is, except for his name and the fact that he came from the moon. Their meeting would be the root of their bizarre adventures that currently awaited them. AU.
1. The Sky is Smiling

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **Hey what's up guys. I know that maybe you guys don't want to care about this little fanfic I made here, BUT HERE ME OUT! I've had a few things on my mind that wouldn't go away, so I decided to form a story based on my thoughts on Kingdom Hearts. Now I know that this may be too long or uninteresting, and I can definitely see that, but I just wanted to get this out of my mind. And I did.**

 **Unfortunately, that's pretty all I can think of to say. Oh! Right! If you can, give me some constructive criticism, regarding my grammar and other important writing features. That could be really helpful in the future of improving my skills if possible. Thank you and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Sky is Smiling**

 _Darkness. That's the first thing I remember._

 _It was dark. It was cold. And I felt alone. I felt weak. But then I saw a big blue moon, shaped like a heart. I felt its light. It was so warm and so bright. It was as if it…chased the Darkness away._

 _My heart felt stronger. I felt stronger, like someone or something had raised me back up. Then the next thing I knew, I was falling… Falling. From the sky. Weird, right?_

* * *

As of tonight, the dark blue sky was clear and the stars twinkled so bright. The very moon had shone its lunar light across the sky, land, and sea.

Down below, there was a simple island with a simple town, surrounded by a large body of water. Plenty of residents live here and some of them go to school on a daily basis. At the end of this island were both a large beach and a wooden dock with boats tied nearby. Aside from the main island, there was a smaller, separate island that floated across it. From a distance, one could see the beaches, exotic trees and shrubbery, and wooden constructions over there.

Everyone was asleep. The lights were turned off and the doors were locked shut. The whole place was utterly silent, yet so peaceful. The waves gently washed onto the beach's sandy shores before being pulled silently back into the ocean. The light, airy breeze brushed past the trees and shrubs as they blew across town.

Suddenly, high up in the dark sky, a bright shooting star fell downward. It, alone, plummeted while the rest of its starry brethren still hung in the air. However, this shooting star seemed to be no ordinary shooting star. This star was heading straight for the ocean below it, rather than flying past the world it just now visited. Strangely enough, if one could get a closer look at it, this star almost looked like a person instead. A person that was unawake and unaware of his current situation.

This…person was falling toward the sea at increasing speed, while being covered in a bright, white aura.

 _SPLASSSHH!_

The person crashed into the oceanic body, before he eventually remerged from the water surface. His body slowly bobbed up and down in the water, revealing his physical form as a fifteen-year-old boy.

The boy had light-brown side-swept hair, along with large spikes of it protruding from the sides and back. He was wearing a black overjacket with gray pockets and a gray stripe on each sleeve. The hood, short-sleeves, and jacket had a red lining. Six golden buttons were on the front of his jacket. Underneath the jacket was a black shirt with a low V-neck style collar. Around his neck was a small, silver crown necklace. He wore gray gauntlets with a gray circle on the back of each hand; the palms of his hands were exposed. He wore a pair of black jogger shorts with armored sidings attached by red straps that wrap around his legs. He had a pair of black and yellow shoes covering his feet.

As the gentle waves carried the boy to shore, he slowly flickered his eyes open, revealing his blue irises. The bangs of his hair gently brushed against his face as he moved his eyes around. He wanted to move his head, and maybe even his body, but the sudden fatigue had gotten the best of him.

It was a short trip, as the waves arrived to the shores with the boy in them. When he slid across the wet sand, the boy closed his eyes and eventually coughed out the seawater from his lungs.

The fatigue had slowly disappeared, and the boy was eventually able to sit up straight. He leaned over and coughed again, as his hair hung downward with the water droplets dripping down from his bangs and face.

The boy placed his hands over his legs and started properly breath in and out. After he took more slow breaths, the boy opened his eyes again and saw his two hands. Unable to tear his eyes off of them, he raised his hands up in front of him, turning them back and forth. He then looked at the rest of his body in both confusion and curiosity.

* * *

 _…I guess so. Who I was and what happened to me before, that I couldn't remember, and a part of me wonders,_ why _I couldn't remember._

* * *

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. He couldn't understand nor remember what had happened. He did not even remember who or what he was either.

The boy's eyes eventually trailed off from himself and to what was in front of him: a large ocean and a small island floating across where he was. He raised his head up and slowly turned it to see a large, quiet town behind him.

Taking a deep breath, the boy slowly turned over while placing his hands and knees into the still-wet sand. As he pushed his hands further into the ground, he silently grunted as he fought what was left of his fatigue in order for him to stand back up.

After about ten seconds, the boy finally got his feet into the sand and stood up high. His face, clothes, and hair quickly dried as the warm wind blew against him. He let out a relaxed sigh as he looked at all of the houses.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. He honestly had no clue of his current location and pondered to himself about where he was in.

Then suddenly, he felt a small bursting feeling in his chest. The boy closed his eyes and grunted painfully, as he leaned forward and placed his hand over it. After a brief moment, he took a few slow breaths while his hand remained on top of his…

"Huh…?" the boy opened eyes.

He focused on the feeling in his hand, a feeling that was beating against his palm. It was…thumping. It was thumping inside his chest. That feeling seemed familiar to the boy, it was on the tip of his tongue.

The boy believed that the source of this feeling started with an…"H".

 _Heart._

The boy widened his eyes. _"Heart."_ He thought.

Blinking his eyes, the boy looked at his chest after removing his hand from it. Then, he felt something else. Something that also felt familiar to him. It suddenly echoed in his conscious.

 _Follow your Heart. It will always lead the way._

Before thinking about the mental message, several mental images flashed painfully in the boy's head. He closed his eyes and held his head, as he saw the images within.

In them, he saw a boy with spiky orange hair and purple headphones. This boy was pulling off flashy moves as he spun around poles, grinded across rails, jumped from wall to wall, and leapt up to great heights. It looked like he was using the environment to help him traverse across places.

The boy opened his eyes again and thought to himself. " _What was that?"_

At the same time, he couldn't help but get a familiar feeling from those mental images as well. It was almost as if he had done those tricks before. He could not get the name of this ability immediately, but it was slowly coming to him.

The boy concentrated as he tried to remember the word associated with those skills.

 _"F…Flo…"_ The boy thought. _"Flowmo…tion… Flowmotion."_

The boy raised his eyes, as he believed to have found the lost word.

 _Flowmotion._

That was what it was called. This was the ability used by the orange-spiky-haired boy to travel around using his surrounding environments. Question was, was this other spiky-haired child able to utilize this skill?

The boy quickly pointed his eyes at the town still in front of him. The area looked as if it were possible to utilize the Flowmotion ability. There were plenty of light poles, along with houses and triangular rooftops.

As he looked around, he felt as if from muscle memory, this familiar ability was returning. He slowly felt his body tingling increasingly. He felt his heart beating more rapidly. He felt his breathing increasing in speed. He was feeling excited. He was suddenly feeling ready.

When the boy tried to listen to his Heart again, it repeated the same line over and over to him.

 _Do it._

Smiling largely, the boy quickly dashed toward the nearest light pole, which was near the beach. He leaped forward and spun around the wooden construct with his hand. By doing so, he released and launched himself to one of the walls of a house. He quickly positioned himself with his feet pointing forward when reaching the hard surface. Pushing himself off, he launched again into another wall.

The boy landed on his feet again and repeated the same process as he leapt from wall to wall several more times. Afterwards, he jumped high up in the air, feeling the wind pushing against his face, hair, and clothes.

The boy soon fell down. He quickly aimed his eyes at one of the branches of the highest tree in front of him. Once doing so, the boy moved himself forward and his feet tried to reach for the branch. His feet had hit the surface, allowing him to grind across the end of the tree branch.

Suddenly, however, the branch gave in and snapped itself off, causing the boy to fall down while hitting a few other branches on his way down. Soon after, he landed onto the last tree branch, which was right above the ground.

The boy caught his breath as his arms were around the branch. Soon, he chuckled at his own expense of crashing down through the tree. Taking a deep breath, the boy stood up on the tree branch before jumping down to the ground.

He looked around and found himself in the middle of the slumbering town. The boy sighed as he assumed that everyone was unavailable for answering any of his questions.

Even so, the boy kept a smile on his face, hoping for the best as he waited for anyone to be awake and give him the answers that he needed. All he could do as of now was to practice his new Flowmotion skills and improve, along with having fun while doing so.

The boy jumped from wall to wall again before fully utilizing his Flowmotion ability once more as he traversed across this unfamiliar world.

* * *

By the next day, it was already afternoon. School was almost over at the main island. Inside one of the classrooms, there was a certain red-haired girl sitting at her desk.

She had violet eyes and long red hair. She currently wore a school uniform that consisted of a white shirt of which she rolled up the short sleeves, a sky blue striped tie, a matching skirt with navy knee-high stockings and black shoes.

To her, life was ordinary. Nothing special had ever happened, not like she expected anything of the sort anyway. Even so, she felt that something was missing. It was almost as if there something empty about her life.

Like the rest of the students, the girl was writing down her notes on her notebook while the teacher was talking and writing on the chalkboard. While most students were already tired and bothered by how much they had to write down, the girl didn't have much to complain about since school had been a part of her life as of now.

However, in every class on each day, there would be a sudden moment when she would pause as she received a hazy, mental image of a mysterious boy. A boy that the girl felt she had met before. There would also be a voice that spoke this certain line…

 _"Don't say goodbye. I hate goodbyes."_

These words would always confuse the girl, as she was unable to decrypt the meaning behind them. She would ponder why this particular boy would say something like that, and for what purpose? At the same time, she had met no one familiar who had said these words before.

This was quite bothersome for this girl, to say the least.

Suddenly, the girl quickly snapped out of her thoughts as the school bell rang across the halls and echoed into the classrooms. Every student in the room ceased their hand movements and finished their notes.

"Alright, that's about it for today." The teacher said. "Class dismissed."

With that, the students packed up their stuff, got up from their seats and walked out of the classroom. The girl did the same as she placed her belongings inside her bag. Then she, too, walked out of the room and went across the hall. Unbeknownst to her, several boys looked at the girl as they were awed by her cuteness.

Once the girl made her way to the school entrance, she walked out of the building and followed the long clay path, which would lead her back home.

"Kairi! Wait up!"

Kairi turned around to see another girl catching up to her.

This girl, Selphie, had green eyes and brown hair that was styled into one large curl on the back of her head and two more on both sides. She was wearing the same school uniform Kairi was wearing, but her sleeves weren't rolled up like Kairi's. She was also wearing a small brown strap around her left wrist.

Kairi smiled as Selphie arrived right before catching her breath after running up to her. After greeting one another, they continued to make their way back home. As the two girls neared to the beach, Selphie looked at Kairi as she started to speak to her.

"Hey, do you feel like going out to the island?" Selphie asked hopefully. "Tidus and Wakka are wrapped up in their ballgame and they won't go with me."

Kairi looked at her apologetically. "Not today. Sorry." She walked several inches ahead of Selphie before they stopped. Selphie looked at her confusedly. "But, why?"

Kairi paused for a moment, as she was unable to come up with an answer that could help her friend understand. She stills wasn't able to figure out who the hazy-looking boy in her thoughts was. To her, there were already a lot of unanswered questions and Selphie's was only adding to the pile. She was confused.

"Kairi?"

The redhead blinked, as Selphie's voice called her back to the real world. She stared into the ground while Selphie tried to look over to her friend's face.

Quickly, Kairi shook her head and smiled at Selphie. "It's nothing. I just need to prepare for that test we have tomorrow." Kairi and Selphie started walking again.

"Oh." Selphie sighed. "It's too bad that we have a test. I don't even think Tidus and Wakka are ready yet, are they?"

Kairi chuckled. "Probably not." Selphie chuckled as well.

"WOOHOO!"

Kairi and Selphie's eyes widened, as they heard a cheerful voice echo across the area. They confusedly looked around in search for the source of the voice.

"Did you hear that?" Selphie asked.

Kairi continued to search the area, her violet eyes carefully moving around. Selphie turned her head side to side as she, too, searched for the source.

"YEA-HAH!"

Hearing the voice again, Kairi and Selphie whipped their heads around to where it came from. There, they saw a boy. To their surprise, he was literally jumping all over the place.

The boy was zipping from surface to surface of each building. After bouncing off the walls several times, he quickly launched into the air. Soon descending, the boy aimed towards the nearest tree branch at an increasing horizontal speed, the wind pushed against his clothing.

Kairi looked at the boy in shock and amazement, seeing him pulling off this amazing feat. She didn't think it was possible that anyone was capable enough to move this freely. She watched as the boy fell downward fearlessly and joyfully.

The boy's feet slammed against the sturdy tree branch before he slid across to its end. Unfortunately, because the momentum was so great, the boy was unable to stop himself and he slipped off the branch. He zipped into the air and made his way to the beach in front of Kairi and Selphie.

The boy spun around in midair before crashing into the sandy ground at the beach. Shocked by the accident, Kairi's first instinct was to run toward the beach while leaving a surprised Selphie behind.

Selphie reached her hand out to Kairi. "Kairi! Wait!"

Not listening, Kairi still ran towards the beach. She followed down the clay path until she reached the sandy edge of the beach. She entered the sandy shore as she turned her head side to side frantically. In a few seconds, she finally spotted the boy, who was laying face forward on the ground.

Kairi hurriedly ran over to the boy, hoping that she wasn't too late. She reached to his side and got a closer look at him. She noticed how this boy had brown somewhat spiky hair. His clothing was a little odd, almost styled to be athletic.

As she searched from top to bottom for any bruises or marks, she heard a cough being let out.

Kairi froze. She could have sworn that she saw the boy's body move a bit.

Another cough was let out again. Suddenly, Kairi realized that the cough came from the boy as he jumped up a bit.

The boy slowly turned around with closed eyes and a small grin on his face.

Kairi widened her eyes and her cheeks blushed in response to his appearance. To her, the boy seemed attractive. Perhaps…cute. She even noticed a certain v-neck collar on him, revealing a portion of his bare chest.

The boy chuckled in pain. "…I guess I should've been more careful…" The boy took a deep breath.

The boy's grin lessened while maintaining his smile. He still didn't notice Kairi standing next to him. She crouched down near to his level of resting.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm?" The boy curiously opened his eyes and spotted a redheaded girl crouching over him.

The redhead tucked back a lock of hair behind her ear, with red hues still present on her cheeks. The boy looked at the girl in slight astonishment as he, too, had red hues forming on his cheeks, though not as much as the girl had.

The boy quickly shook his head and smiled at her. "Uh, y-yeah! I'm fine. Just a few bruises and all. They'll heal." The boy sat up.

Kairi pulled back a bit. "Oh, o-okay then." she stammered a bit. "U-um…" she tried her best to keep her eyes off of the boy's v-neck as it still showed some of his bare chest.

The boy scratched his head and chuckled in slight nervousness. "Um, I-I appreciate your help. So, thanks." Kairi quickly nodded her head at him. "But, do you mind telling me where we are?" The boy smiled at her again.

Kairi then confusedly looked at the boy's innocent face. Noticing that he was being serious, she widened her eyes in slight surprise.

"W-wait," Kairi spoke, "you don't know where you are?"

The boy curiously looked up and shook his head. "...Nope. I mean…wait," he then gave her a quizzical look, "do you not know where we are either?"

Kairi looked back at the boy questionably.

"Um, n-no," Kairi cleared her throat. "O-of course not. It's just…are you sure you're not from around here?"

The boy eyed at the ground beneath him. He let the question beat against his head as he just realized that things just became a little more confusing. All he remembered was falling from the sky and into the sea. Anything before it was a blur, which felt unknowingly, somewhat scary for him to experience emotionally.

Shaking off the feeling, the boy shrugged innocently. "I don't know." He smiled at the redheaded girl. "Though I was kinda hoping someone could tell me what this place is."

Kairi was somewhat amused by the optimistic aura that this boy gave off. He didn't seem to panic or show much confusion about his whereabouts. Despite his claims of unfamiliarity of this place, he seemed to act causal about his current situation as he still had that peaceful smile on his face.

Feeling slightly influenced by the boy's happy behavior, Kairi made a small smile.

"Destiny Islands." Kairi said.

The boy looked at her curiously. "Hmm?"

"Destiny Islands." She repeated. "You're on Destiny Islands."

The boy soon made a face as he thought about the name. He grinned at the girl. "I don't think I've ever heard of that one!" he chuckled.

Kairi made a small chuckle as well as she smiled back at the boy.

"Kairi!"

Hearing her name from behind, she and the boy turned around to see Selphie running up to them. Once she reached them, she quickly halted and leaned over as she panted for a brief moment.

Selphie stood up straight as she looked back up. "Kairi, what are you doing? We need to…" she then spotted the boy sitting near to her friend, "Oh."

Noticing that her eyes were on him, the boy smiled and waved at her. "Hiya!"

Selphie, too, had noticed the boy's cute appearance. His smile seemed captivating enough for her to make a faint blush on her cheeks.

"U-um, hi." Selphie waved at him, albeit somewhat nervously. She quickly looked back at her redheaded friend. "Kairi, we should probably head home soon. You said we had a test tomorrow, didn't you?"

Kairi widened her eyes, while the boy raised an eyebrow. "Test?" The boy questioned.

"Oh right! I almost forgot!" Kairi stood up and looked back at the boy apologetically. "Sorry, but we have to go soon."

The boy still smiled at her. "No worries. Do you what gotta do." The boy leaned back, placing his hands on the ground for support.

Kairi nodded. "Thanks."

The redhead stood up and followed Selphie, who was already making her way back home. Suddenly, Kairi stopped just between the sandy shore and the clay path.

"Hey."

The boy turned his head around to see Kairi facing him.

"You know my name, right?" Kairi asked.

The boy nodded at her. "Kairi." He smiled.

Kairi nodded back before smiling at him. "What's yours?"

The boy smiled at Kairi.

* * *

 _My name is Sora. How do I know that? My Heart told me so._

* * *

 **Hey, did any of you spot a little reference in this chapter? Because that one's my favorite, it's just so... meaningful, ya know? By the way, Sora has his Kingdom Hearts 3 look in this chapter. Why? I don't know, just why not? I personally like it. He looks more attractive than before. And I'm a dude so...**

 **Anyways, I hoped you enjoy this piece of story. If not, well... okay then. Good enough I guess. Welp, see you... next time?**


	2. Follow Your Heart

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **It's too soon to upload another chapter. I know, I know. But I already planned out about seven chapters and I couldn't help myself. I'm...not a patient person, let me tell you.**

 **Anyways, let me remind you guys once more that Sora is in his KINGDOM HEARTS 3 OUTFIT in this story. I'll say more stuff down below. For now, enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Follow Your Heart

On the next day, Kairi was in her last class, taking another of her tests. Of course, she had no problems with answering the questions like some of her classmates did. She calmly read each question and thought them over. Afterwards, she would circle the right answer. Other students would just scratch their heads in frustration or desperately chew on their #2 pencils as they think over the questions that they read.

Just as soon as Kairi answers the last question on her test, the bell rang, indicating the dismissal of classes. Most of the students in her room sighed either with relief or with frustration.

Everyone, including Kairi, packed their stuff into their book bags and headed out of the classroom. Kairi walked out of the school building and met up with Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka, who were already outside talking to each other.

Tidus had blue eyes and disheveled sandy blond hair with spiky layers. He also had a small scar on his left cheek. His school uniform was similar to that of Kairi's and Selphie's. He wore a white polo shirt with a sky blue striped tie hanging around his neck. He wore pants that matched his tie and wore black shoes.

Wakka wore the same exact uniform as Tidus did. He had long reddish-orange hair styled into a coif and girted with a blue headscarf. He wore blue wristbands on each wrist and small stud earrings. He had a more muscular body structure compared to Tidus.

Both Tidus and Wakka sighed out of exhaustion.

"Man, I thought I wasn't going to finish that test…" Tidus muttered out.

"Speak for yourself, man! I barely finished the test! And the questions I answered are probably wrong too!" Wakka responded.

Selphie glared at the two boys.

"Well, that's what you guys get for playing your ballgame again instead of studying with me and Kairi." Selphie said.

Tidus and Wakka groaned loudly. Kairi chuckled at their expense. She always found it amusing to see how Tidus and Wakka behaved towards anything they were involved in.

Selphie widened her eyes and quickly turned to Kairi.

"Oh yeah, Kairi! You think Sora's still around the Islands?"

Kairi paused for a moment. She honestly didn't know the answer to Selphie's question. She didn't even know if Sora was still around the Islands at all. She started to ask herself: Does Sora even live around here? If not, where did Sora come from?

"Sora?" Tidus asked. "You two talking about that guy who sleeps at the beach?"

Kairi and Selphie quickly looked at Tidus in surprise.

"How… did you know that?" Kairi asked.

"We saw him on our way to school this morning. Doesn't seem like he had a place to go back to, ya?" Wakka said.

Tidus looked at Wakka.

"Exactly what I was thinking. But who knows? Maybe he does have some place to live at, but maybe he just doesn't feel like heading back for some reason."

Kairi looked down, thinking to herself. Tidus did make some good points. There are plenty of people who've done that before. Having a home to live in, but not actually willing to head back to for personal reasons.

"Maybe." Kairi said.

Tidus cupped his chin with curiosity as he looked up at the sky.

"But you gotta wonder, where did he come from? Because I haven't seen him around here before, and I doubt anyone else has. So what's he doing here?" Tidus wondered.

Selphie looked up, thinking to herself.

"Hmm… I wonder…" Selphie muttered.

"Maybe he came from another world?"

Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka looked at Kairi.

"Wouldn't you think so?" Kairi asked.

"Pfft! I doubt that he was able to come here from another world. I used to have this dream of traveling to other worlds. I even tried to go and see what was out there, but I saw nothing special." Tidus explained.

Wakka chuckled.

"Yeah, Tidus is right. It ain't possible to travel to other worlds if there aren't any at all." Wakka said.

Kairi motioned her eyes downward.

"Hmm…" Kairi hummed.

Suddenly, the four heard two girls who walked past them, talking about the same person.

"Hey, did you see that boy at the beach this morning?"

"Yeah, I did!"

"Doesn't he look so cute?"

"He does! He does! Hmm… I wonder if he's seeing someone?"

"We can ask him."

"Maybe…"

Kairi didn't know why, but she felt bothered by how those girls talked about Sora like that. Weird. She wondered why she felt like this…

Tidus placed his hands on his hips.

"Some of the girls around here kept on talking about that Sora guy for a while now."

Wakka nodded in agreement.

"They seem pretty interested in the new guy, ya?"

Kairi stood silent as she watched the two girls walk away as they continue to talk about Sora.

Selphie looked at Kairi.

"Kairi? You okay?" Selphie asked.

Kairi snapped out of it and looked at Selphie.

"Huh?"

"You were being pretty quiet since those girls walked past us. Something on your mind?" Selphie asked

Kairi widened her eyes a bit. Was it that obvious?

"Huh? Uh, yeah I guess." Kairi turned to the direction to the beach. "I'm gonna go see if Sora's still at the beach. I'll see you guys later."

Kairi walked away as Selphie waved goodbye.

"Okay, see you!" Selphie shouted.

Tidus raised an eyebrow.

"What was up with Kairi?"

Wakka simply shrugged.

"Who knows, man?" Wakka smirked at Tidus. "Hey, you wanna play some Blitzball again?"

Selphie looked at the two boys with dismay.

"Seriously, you guys?" Selphie questioned.

* * *

As Kairi walked down the trail to the beach, she returned to her thoughts Sora's previous whereabouts. It was hard for Kairi to not think about the boy and his origins, since it was clear that he wasn't a native of the Islands. In fact, his sudden appearance and still mysterious past had sparked her curiosity about the many different worlds that existed, besides her own. Just who was this boy?

Once she arrived at the beach, Kairi spotted the spiky haired boy lying on top of the sandy surface. Kairi could see that, from a distance, Sora was sleeping. He still had that big smile on his face, looking as if there was nothing to even worry about. Weird, seeing Sora smile like that actually made her want to smile too.

Kairi walked over to the boy's side and crouched down, her crystal blue eyes directing their gaze onto Sora's sleeping ones.

"Sora?" she called.

Sora slowly opened his ocean blue eyes, blinking them a few times to regain his sight. The sky was reddish-orange and the sun wasn't there to glare at him. He could only assume that it was an early morning. Or was it evening? How long has he been asleep?

"Sora."

Sora directed his gaze to the source of the voice, revealing to be Kairi. The boy sat up and stretched his arms, letting out a huge yawn before smiling at Kairi again.

"Good mornin'." Sora tiredly greeted.

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows at him. Did he sleep through the whole day?

"It's three in the afternoon." Kairi corrected.

Sora jumped a bit at her response.

"Seriously?! No way! I couldn't have slept that long." Sora denied.

"How long did you sleep?"

Sora looked up at the sky for a few seconds before looking back at Kairi.

"Since last night?"

Kairi raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What?!" Kairi said.

"I know, right?! It doesn't make sense! How could I sleep for that long? That's never happened before…"

"No! I mean…!" Kairi cut herself off in the middle of her sentence, as she was rethinking her words.

Sora tilted his head at the pretty redhead.

"Kairi?" Sora asked.

Kairi looked back at Sora.

"How long have you been out here?" Kairi asked.

"Like, at the beach?" Sora asked, pointing at the sandy floor underneath them.

Kairi nodded. Sora moved his eyes upward as he thought to himself. After a few moments, he looked back at Kairi with a gentle smile.

"Probably a few days?"

"What?!" Kairi jumped slightly.

Sora chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"I don't think it's that much of a big deal. Really." Sora said.

"But, don't you have a home to go back to?"

Sora turned his attention to the falling sun, laying back a bit as he used his hands for support.

"Hmm… I don't know." Sora answered.

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows again.

"Any home at all?" she asked.

Sora shook his head, still smiling.

"Probably not." he chuckled.

Kairi looked down in her thoughts. It was difficult for her to figure out what to make of this boy. But at the same time, he managed to peak her curiosity some more. She was starting believe more and more that Sora may have come from another world.

"Maybe I should start being honest with you." Sora said.

"Huh?"

Kairi looked up at Sora, who suddenly stopped smiling. He wasn't frowning either, but his lips were just formed in a straight line. His gaze was still toward the sunset. Was she right? Was it true all along that Sora may have come from another world? Was that Sora going to confess to Kairi?

Sora slowly moved his eyes down to the sand underneath him.

"Before I came to these Islands, I could hardly remember anything that happened."

Kairi widened her eyes. That wasn't the answer she was expecting him to say.

"You don't…remember anything at all?" Kairi asked?

Sora calmly shook his head.

"When I first woke up, everything just seemed…pitch black. I don't…have any memories that may tell me who I was or what I am. I don't even know where I came from. I actually felt…lost. Confused of what to do with myself. I actually I thought I wouldn't last long."

Kairi looked at Sora with concern. However, much to her surprise, Sora quickly smiled as he raised his head up to the sky.

"But then, my Heart started to speak to me. It guided me. For once, I actually felt safe. I wasn't lost anymore. So all I knew was that I had to follow my Heart, wherever it would take me."

Sora looked back at Kairi with a bigger smile.

"You should try following your Heart too. Who knows? Maybe it'll lead you to something great." Sora said.

Kairi smiled at the brunette, amused by his sheer optimism.

"You don't seem scared at all." Kairi said.

"As long as I follow my Heart, I got nothing to be scared of."

"You don't doubt your Heart at all?"

Sora chuckled.

"From what I learned so far, Hearts don't lie. Each Heart can tell a personal story of past experiences that a person had gone through. It's kinda like reading a uh…uh…a bedtime story I guess?"

Sora scratched the back of his head, while Kairi chuckles, impressed by his sudden knowledge of things. For a lazy bum, that is.

"You're smarter than you look." Kairi chuckled.

Sora grinned.

"Thanks!" Beat. "Hey!"

Kairi laughed at Sora's response. Her laughter was contagious enough to have Sora share his own. After a few minutes of shared laughter, it died down into complete silence.

Kairi was the first to speak.

"You could've told me you didn't have anywhere else to go."

Sora laughed again.

"Nah, I don't think I'd wanna burden you with that. Besides, it's not like I'd have anything to gain from telling you."

"Still, you should probably stay over at my house until things get settled out." Kairi said.

Sora chuckled.

"I don't think so. I'm not a big fan of intruding someone's home."

Kairi looked at Sora.

"It's not intruding, Sora. I'm offering you a place to stay." Kairi explained.

Sora was still smiling.

"Pass." Sora said.

Pouting at Sora's ignorance to stay somewhere more comfortable, Kairi's stubbornness had kicked in as she grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him up. Sora merely chuckled at what was happening, seemingly not annoyed by this at all.

"Hey!" Sora chuckled.

"Come on." Kairi ordered.

Sora sighed. He had no choice but to walk home with the redhead. He didn't mind though, since his Heart had nothing against this and the atmosphere was just so peaceful. In a way, he was thankful that the walk took a while, so that he could enjoy this blissful atmosphere.

* * *

Sora and Kairi had reached her house. When Sora caught sight of her home, he stopped and stared in awe and shock. Compared to the other houses that covered up some of the Island, this house was bigger and neater. It just seemed so… formal.

As Kairi walked a few feet ahead of Sora, she sensed him stopping and turned around to see his shocked expression.

"Whoa…" Sora said.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"This house—it's big!"

Kairi chuckled, amused by Sora's reaction.

Sora looked at Kairi.

"How'd you get a house like this?!" he asked.

"You'll see." Kairi continued walking. "Come on."

Sora followed her inside. As they entered the house, he looked around with amazement. The inside almost looked like a mansion. He might've seen some pillars as he walked by. The glass windows were huge and there was a large flight of stairs that twirled upwards.

Sora looked at Kairi.

"So, are you gonna tell me how you got this house?"

Kairi smiled.

"Not yet." Kairi answered.

"How 'bout now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"Nope."

"Maybe right now?"

"No."

"Then when?"

"It's a secret."

Sora rolled his eyes.

"That is just unlike you, Kairi." Sora remarked.

"We've only known each other for a few days." Kairi chuckled.

Sora pulled his hands to the back of his head as he walked across the large room.

"Still enough for me to know plenty about you." Sora responded.

They entered a smaller room with a tall brown table standing nearby. Kairi placed her bag on top of it.

"Dad, I'm home." Kairi called.

A middle-aged man had entered the room. He had unkempt brown hair and a brown mustache.

The man, who is presumably Kairi's father, smiles at her as he greeted his daughter.

"Kairi! Welcome home."

Kairi's father then spotted Sora standing next to Kairi. He formed a friendly smile toward him.

"I see you brought a friend. Quite a handsome boy if you ask me." The father complimented.

Sora smiled and chuckled in embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh yeah. Dad, this is Sora." Kairi then looked at Sora. "Sora, this is my Dad. He's the mayor of Destiny Islands."

Sora widened his eyes a bit, while the Mayor simply smiled at him.

"Mayor? Of Destiny Islands?" Sora asked.

The Mayor extended his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sora." The Mayor greeted.

Sora, with wide eyes, looked at his hand. Then he looked at the Mayor's face. Then hand again, and then the Mayor's face again. Then back to his hand.

Sora reluctantly took the Mayor's hand and shook it slowly. The Mayor chuckled at Sora's nervous behavior.

"Oh come on, I don't bite." The Mayor stated.

Sora widened his eyes a bit more.

"Oh, right! Sorry. I just…wasn't expecting to meet the Mayor of Destiny Islands anytime soon…"

As Sora said this, he slowly motioned his eyes toward Kairi, internally asking her why she didn't tell him that her dad was the Mayor.

Kairi merely giggled at Sora's surprised expression as he let go of the Mayor's hand.

The Mayor didn't know why, but he had felt an instant and strong connection to the boy. It felt rather…familiar.

"Are you sure we haven't met before, Sora?" Sora looked at the Mayor. "Because you seem…familiar." The Mayor explained.

Sora shrugged at the Mayor.

"Never been here before, so…probably not." Sora said.

The Mayor nodded.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Sora and the Mayor looked at Kairi. "Dad, Sora doesn't have anywhere to go. So, I was wondering if he could sleep over at the guest's room for a while?" Kairi asked.

The Mayor smiled and looked back at Sora.

"Of course, Kairi. He's welcome to stay here as long as possible." The Mayor said happily.

While Kairi smiled at her father's response, Sora was feeling rather uncomfortable with this decision. As much as he appreciated the Mayor's generosity, he was actually hoping that he would deny Kairi's request. Sora wasn't socially awkward. He was the exact opposite of it. It was just that he felt uncomfortable living inside a house with such an important figure to the Islands like the Mayor, along with living with his own daughter.

Sora nervously placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket while slowly tilting down his head a bit and maintaining eye contact with the Mayor's. She didn't know why, but Kairi found it kind of cute how nervous Sora was beginning to act.

"Oh, uh, gee thanks, sir. But, uh, I think I'd be more comfortable sleeping over at the beach instead. Besides, I actually like lying underneath the sunlight." Sora said.

The Mayor firmly grasped the brunette's shoulders.

"Nonsense! You'll be much more comfortable here! I can guarantee it!" The Mayor said smiling.

Kairi smiled as well, while Sora sighed disappointingly.

* * *

After Sora's meeting with the Mayor and the inevitable invitation to the comfort of his home, he and Kairi went outside and walked down the trail to the beach.

Kairi, right now, was wearing her casual outfit. She wore a pink strapless shirt made up of three zippers, two of which appear to be decorative, as well as a white halter-top underneath her shirt with a black hood. She wore a pair of black cargo shorts that rolled up to the middle of her thighs. She also sports three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders, and a pair of lilac sneakers.

Sora sighed before looking at Kairi.

"Why did you have to do that?" he asked.

Kairi merely tilted her head at him.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.

"I mean, why did you have to have me stay at your house now? I could've been fine on my own at the beach."

Kairi raised an eyebrow at Sora, questioning the spiky haired boy's means of survival.

"Really? How so?" she asked.

"Well, there're coconuts growing out of palm trees. They can provide me with the basic necessities to survive." Sora explained.

"Hmm…" Kairi hummed, still doubting Sora's survival skills.

They had already arrived at the beach, but Sora then noticed a separate island across the ocean.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Sora pointed at the separate island.

Kairi noticed and looked at the island.

"Huh? You mean the island over there?" she asked.

Sora nodded.

"Yeah. What's it for? Looks like someone built a house over there." he said.

Kairi made a small smile.

"That's just a treehouse. It was there before we even found that island. Sometimes we would go over there to play together. We always had a lot of fun." Kairi explained.

Sora smiled. It must've been great playing around with a group of friends and doing who knows what.

"Sounds like you guys always had a good time there." Sora remarked.

Kairi's lips slowly formed into a small frown.

"Yeah…but…"

Sora looked at Kairi curiously.

"Hmm?"

"I stopped going there a long time ago." She answered.

Sora tilted his head at her.

"Really? How come?" he asked.

Kairi tilted her head down as she looked at the sandy ground.

"I…I'm not sure if you'd want to bother hearing it." Kairi said.

Sora simply smiled at her.

"Come on, Kairi. You can tell me. I got no problems with you telling me anything." he reassured.

Kairi still looked at the ground.

"You mean it?" she asked.

Sora nodded, which Kairi could see through her peripheral vision. She sighed as she looked back up.

"First off, I'm not from this world."

Sora tilted his head at her.

"…You mean…you don't belong here?" he asked.

Kairi nodded.

"I came from somewhere else. I think another world. A world I barely remember now. I was adopted by the Mayor since I had nowhere to go." Kairi answered.

Sora widened his eyes a bit.

"Oh."

Kairi continued to speak, forming a small smile on her face, but it didn't appear to be a happy one.

"When I first came here, I met this boy who used to live here. He was always there for me. We would always play together on that island until nightfall. But I only got to know him for such a short time. After that, he had to move away. He didn't know why and I felt really sad about him leaving."

Sora's facial expression slowly formed to a sad one as he listened to Kairi's story.

"He told me not to say goodbye, because he hated goodbyes." Kairi chuckled lightly. "He told me that if you don't say goodbye, you're not gone, it means that you just aren't here right now. But now I forgot nearly everything about him. Whenever I head over to the island, I start to think of the boy I first befriended, how I couldn't remember anything about who he was. Not even his name." Kairi said sadly.

Sora sadly looked at the ground, feeling bad about making her bring up a personal story. Maybe he shouldn't have asked at all.

"Sorry." Sora apologized.

Kairi shook her head and looked at the brunette with a light smile on her face.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. He always did know how to make me smile." Kairi looked back at the island. "It's funny, you kinda remind me of him."

Sora chuckled lightly.

"You think?" he asked.

"Yeah. The way you make me smile is kinda similar to what he did." Kairi pointed out.

Sora smiled as he looked at the island with Kairi.

"So, you think there's ever going to be a day when you can take me to that island?" Sora asked.

"One day." Kairi answered.

Sora's eyes drifted away from the island and then spotted a wooden object lying on the ground to his right.

"Hey, what's this?"

Kairi watched Sora as he walked over to the object and grabbed it with his hand. It seemed to be shaped like a sword. It was blunt, but good enough to be a weapon, maybe for sparring purposes.

Sora tries swinging it a few times to get the feel of it. It was weird. This all felt too familiar…

"You know how to wield a sword?" Kairi asked.

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I guess so." he answered.

"Kairi! Sora!" a voice shouted.

Sora and Kairi turned their attention to the source of the voice, which happened to be Selphie, who was walking toward them with Tidus and Wakka.

"Hey." Sora greeted.

Tidus widened his eyes as he spotted the wooden sword in Sora's hand.

"Whoa! You can use a sword?!" Tidus asked.

"Huh?" Sora looked at the sword in his hand. "Uh, I guess?"

Selphie glared at Tidus.

"What are you up to, Tidus?" she asked.

"Relax, Selphie. It's nothing too serious." Tidus looked at Sora. "Hey, Sora, you up for some sparring?"

Sora raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sparring?" he repeated.

Tidus nodded.

"Yeah. You know, just a small fight? Just you, against me and Wakka." he said.

Kairi looked at Tidus.

"Tidus…"

"Sure!" Sora happily said.

Kairi looked at Sora in surprise.

"What?!" she said.

Tidus fist pumped greatly.

"Alright! We can give you some time to warm up if you want." Tidus offered.

Sora shook his head.

"Nah. I'll just wing it." he responded.

Kairi grabbed his arm.

"Sora, what are you doing?" she asked.

Sora looked at her innocently.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean why are you deciding to spar with Tidus? Neither of us even knows if you're even capable of fighting." Kairi pointed out.

Sora rolled his eyes at the pretty redhead.

"Gee, Kairi, thanks for the boost of confidence. Anyways, don't worry. I got this." Sora reassured.

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked.

Sora placed a fist over his chest.

"Simple, my Heart told me so."

Sora smiled at Kairi, who eventually smiled back at him, showing that she trusts him.

Sora looks back at Tidus, who suddenly had a wooden stick in his hand and got into a fighting stance. They looked at each with fierce determination in their eyes.

"Let's go!" Sora shouted.

"Bring it on!" Tidus shouted.

* * *

 **Yeahhhh, there ain't no fight scene for this chapter. Sorry. I swear I will have once I throw Sora and Kairi on AN ADVENTURE with DONALD AND GOOFY (Yeh!)! But right now, I'm just trying to build a path that'll lead to their meeting and stuff.**

 **Also, if you haven't noticed, I slightly modified Kairi's outfit in this story. She has shorts now. Now, that's because of the upcoming KH3 game implementing parkour mechanics (Flowmotion) and it's hard for me to see Kairi in action if she's wearing a skirt.**

 **Donald and Goofy will make their appearance in the next chapter. But I would say that their scene is parallel to the first Kingdom Hearts game. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but that scene seemed like something that can't be changed completely.**

 **Anyways, I hoped you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. Review and stuff, tell me what you think. Opinions are something I like. Particularly about my writing and stuff.**

 **And...goodbye.**


	3. We All Wear Masks

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **Welp, this sure is a lot of words. I'll just say more stuff down below. So enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 3: We All Wear Masks...

It was a bright, sunny morning at the Disney Castle. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, peace and tranquility were in the air.

This large blue and white castle stood high up in the center of town. Almost everyone was up and working to maintain stability within this great palace. If one were to enter the Castle, they would see that every single room and hallway was spotless, thanks to the magical brooms that tirelessly marched across the palace to carry out the endless chores that awaited them. As for those within the royal organization, they were scattered across the Castle, assigned with various tasks to ensure the safety of both their world and their Light.

Everything just seemed to be perfect. Until one fateful morning…

* * *

At the end of the Castle's hall was a semi large bedroom with a blue door that was closed shut. Hanging above the blue door was a large nametag with a cursive font style that read _Donald Duck_.

Inside, there was a large bed covered in blue sheets and blue pillows. Lying on the center of the bed was none other than Donald Duck himself. He was under his sheets, snoring and quacking loudly in his sleep. In a way, he seemed so peaceful in his sleep. If one knew enough about Donald, they would also know his fiery quacking temper that he would quickly unleash on anyone who would dare to annoy him.

Fortunately for Donald, or anyone at least, no one would have any intentions of bothering him due to his status as the King's Court Wizard, having able to master all forms of Magic and besting those who would challenge him. He was even one of the King's closest friends from a long time ago.

As Donald snored and quacked away in his sleep, there was a clock sitting on top of the drawer on his right, ticking at the seconds quietly until its destined alarm. As of now, the ticking hand was only ten seconds away from hitting the big hand to the number twelve. By the time the big hand was hit and reached to the top end of the clock, the alarm went off, shaking the device violently in the air as it rang across the room.

Donald popped his eyes wide open before motioning his eyes angrily at the clock beside him. He turned around and knelt over as he grabbed his pillow and slammed it on top of his head. He would hope that his comfy pillow would block out the violent ringing of the alarm, but alas, the sound volume of clock's bell was so strong that the Court Wizard started to vibrate uncontrollably underneath his sheets, and went on his way to the end of the bed. As he reached to the very edge the mattress, he tumbled down, face first, to the ground.

Donald angrily pushed himself off the ground and looked at the alarm clock, which was still shaking violently. He walked over to it as he groaned loudly.

"Alright, alright! Pipe down, will ya?!" Donald shouted.

Donald slammed his fist on top of the clock, silencing the ringing bell. The Wizard sighed heavily, relieved that it was over. However, he was startled by the sound of his bedroom door being kicked open, as three magic brooms marched in with buckets of water. Quickly, they swung their buckets back and then forth to release their watery contents onto Donald.

"WAK!" he shouted.

Donald stood in front of the magic brooms, his pajamas soaked in water while his white feathers dripped with the same cleansing liquid. He stared at the brooms angrily.

The magic brooms near Donald's room had heard the constant ringing from inside and mistook it for it being a fire alarm.

"Get out!" Donald ordered, as he pointed at the entrance of his room.

Doing as they were told, the magic brooms calmly marched out of the room with empty buckets in their hands, believing that their work here was done and moved on to the next.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Donald walked over to his wardrobe and opened up its contents. He pulled out the outfit that he would always wear to help represent his status as the King's Court Wizard. He threw off his pajamas and hat, while pulling on his brand new outfit.

He wore a dark blue hat that had a wide brim with gold lining, along with a tip that curled in a very angular fashion. He also donned a navy jacket with a blue portion of it covering the lower half of his body. His jacket also had two large, yellow buttons down the front, a gold-lined pattern of ovals on the lower half, and a blue belt tied around the waist. His sleeves were long and resembled those of a sweater, sporting vertical creases.

He walked towards his own bedroom mirror and looked at himself. Currently, he had an expression that consisted of a mixture of annoyance, slight anger, and tiredness. As soon as he slid his hand down across his face, with his beak swinging up and down like a diving board, he quickly formed a new jolly expression on his face.

He joyfully marched out of his room and walked across the hallway. Before meeting with King Mickey again, he decided to bring the other Masters with him so that they could see him together.

He started with the room closest to him. This room had a nametag above the door, which read _Master Riku_. Donald walked in front of the door.

He brought up his hand in front of his mouth as he cleared his throat. He closed his feathery hand into a fist and knocked on the door several times before calling one of the Master's names.

"Oh, Master Riku! Time to wake up!" Donald shouted through the room.

No response. Just utter silence on the other side of the room. The Court Wizard tried again. He knocked on the door a few more times and called Master Riku's name again.

"Master Riku! It's time to wake up!" Donald shouted again.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, letting the sunlight enter the dark room. Donald casually walked inside to see Master Riku.

"Good morning, Master Ri—huh?"

As Donald took a few steps closer to Master Riku's bed, he noticed that the bed was empty. The sheets weren't thrown off in any way, and the pillows weren't already compressed at all. Everything looked neat and tidy, almost as if no one's slept here last night.

Donald raised an eyebrow.

"Huh…must've woken up already." Donald said to himself.

The Court Wizard shrugged and walked out of the room. Now he was off to the other Master's bedroom. Above the bedroom door was a nametag that read _Master Lea_. Donald walked in front of this door.

Bringing up his hand in front of his mouth again, he cleared his throat. He knocked on the door several times and called Master Lea's name.

"Master Lea? Are you awake yet?" Donald asked.

Nothing. Silence again. Donald knocks again.

"Master Lea? It's time to wake up!" Donald shouted.

Still nothing. Donald was beginning to fume in anger. It was fine when he didn't get a response the second or third time, but anything after the third had soon begun to annoy him greatly.

Donald grabbed the knob and pushed the door open.

"Master Lea! Get up! It's time to—! Huh?"

Once again, Donald had noticed that Master Lea's bed was empty as well. Sheets weren't tossed off and pillows weren't compressed. It was the same as Master Riku's room. It was neat and tidy.

Donald cupped his chin with his hand.

"Hmm…maybe they're with the King already." Donald snapped his fingers as a smile formed across his face. "Yeah! That's it!"

With that, Donald turned around and walked his way out of the bedroom and happily marched across the halls of the Castle. Hall after hall, he finally arrived at the hall that led to the audience chamber, the room where the King's throne resided in. As he walked toward the chamber, the Court Wizard went past a line of magic brooms that marched past him with buckets of water in their hands. He stood in front of a pair of gigantic purple doors.

Donald cleared his throat once more and then knocked on one of the large door several times. After doing so, he placed his hand on the door, revealing a smaller rectangular portion of the large door. It opens for Donald as he pushes it open to gain access to the chamber. Inside the extremely large room, he then walked across the large red carpet that reached to the King's throne.

"Good morning, Your Majesty!" Donald greeted loudly.

As he came closer to the end of the room, Donald started to get a better look at the throne.

"It's nice to see you aga—what?!"

Donald had soon discovered that the throne was empty. No one was there. Except for a yellow dog with a rolled up slip of paper in his mouth. Donald took the paper out of the dog's mouth and opened its contents.

Donald's eyes moved side to side as he read the letter in his hands. As soon as he reached to the end of the letter, he jumped in shock. He scrambled out of the room, screaming and panicking.

* * *

In the center of the Disney Castle was the luscious courtyard. The area was completely filled with various flowers and plants. The green hedges had taken form of certain characters playing band music, standing around a green hedge that was shaped like the Disney Castle itself.

Lying in front of the castle-shaped hedge was an armor-clad dog.

He wore a metal hat, resembling a knight's helmet, with a curved blade on the top. Most of his left side was covered in metal armor. His let arm sported a metal armlet, a shoulder pauldron, a cylindrical gauntlet that covered most of his arm, and a metal glove over his left hand. His right side lacked any armor except for a metal armlet on his upper arm. He wore a sleeveless, orange shirt with a high, yellow collar. The character wore orange, baggy pants with large metal shoes.

The armor-clad dog was sleeping within the courtyard, snoring loudly as Donald scrambled into the courtyard in search of this particular character. Donald runs up to him and starts shouting at him with wide eyes.

"Wake up, Goofy, wake up! This is serious!" Donald said.

Goofy, the Captain of the Royal Knights, was unable to hear Donald's yells as he continued to snore loudly, causing his nose to vibrate.

Immediately growing irritated, Donald suddenly pointed his finger upward, forcing a thunderbolt to strike down at Goofy. Shocked by the jolt of electricity from the thunderbolt, he yelped and jumped up from his sleep before falling back down. Goofy sat up with half-open eyes. Rubbing one of his eyes, he turned his head to Donald.

Goofy waved.

"Hey there, Donald. G'morning." Goofy greeted.

Donald quickly raised his hands up in front of Goofy.

"We've got a problem, Goofy!"

Donald quickly looked around himself, and then at Goofy. He held up his hand beside his beak.

"But don't tell anyone…" Donald whispered.

Goofy widened his eyes in surprise.

"Queen Minnie?" he asked.

Donald angrily placed his hands on his feathery hips.

"Not even the Queen!" Donald shouted.

"Daisy?" Goofy asked again.

"NOOOOO!" Donald screamed. "It's top secret!"

Goofy then smiled at whoever was behind him and started waving.

"G'morning, ladies!" Goofy greeted.

Donald jumped up.

"What?"

Donald slowly turned around in horror. Standing behind him were Queen Minnie and Daisy, who were wearing a pink and purple dresses, respectively. Daisy crossed her arms as she looked at Donald.

"Ahem." Daisy cleared her throat.

Donald smiled and laughed nervously.

This may not go well for any of them…

* * *

 ** _At Destiny Islands_**

It was early morning as the sun was currently rising, giving the sky a reddish-orange color. The whole place was so quiet and peaceful during this time of the day. The ocean was sparkling from the rays of the rising sun and the wind was calmly breezing by. The sky was clear and the birds were chirping a catchy tune. Everything just seemed so beautiful.

At the Mayor's house, a window on the second floor had opened up, revealing a spiky-haired teen, Sora.

Wearing a red hood over his head, Sora stepped out of the window and grabbed the sill on the outer side. He took hold of any protruded portions of the wall of the house in order to help himself climb down. Finally landing on the ground safely, he smiled to himself. He hated to leave like this, but he didn't want to trouble them with his presence. He brushed off the dirt from his hands and placed his hands on his hips.

Sora sighed in relief.

"…Well, now that I got out of there, I might as well head back over to the—"

However, just when Sora turned around, he spotted a redhead standing right in front of him. The redhead was none other than Kairi, who was already dressed in her school uniform. Her arms were crossed against her chest as she glared at Sora, who immediately tried to make a huge grin.

"Oh hey, Kairi!" Sora said, feigning surprise. "Didn't see you there! Hey, did you do something to you hair? Because it looks amazing!" Sora lied.

"What are you doing, Sora?" Kairi demanded.

Sora made a face as he pointed at himself.

"Me? What am I doing? Nothing. Why?" he asked.

"Because you're outside."

Sora looked around before looking back at Kairi.

"So are you…?" he said.

"Sora."

Sora opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. He was caught like a deer in headlights, unable to figure out what to do next.

"I…uh…eheheh." Sora chuckled nervously.

Kairi stared at him, demanding the truth from him. Sora sighed heavily.

"Fine, I'll tell you the truth."

Kairi tapped her finger on one of her crossed arms, as Sora was about to speak.

"I wanted to go out for a walk, but I didn't want to wake any of you guys up—"

"Okay, back inside."

Kairi grabbed Sora by the ear and pulled him inside with her. Sora quickly followed in pain.

"Ow! Ow! What?! It was a legitimate answer!" Sora shouted.

Kairi and Sora went back inside the house. When they entered one of the rooms, Sora spotted the Mayor sitting by the table. The Mayor looked at Sora with a pleasant smile on his face. Turned out that both Kairi and her father were already awake.

"Oh! Good morning, Sora! It's good to see—wait a minute." The Mayor paused for a brief moment. "Weren't you upstairs?"

Kairi looked at Sora.

"He thought we were asleep, so he tried to sneak out and head back to the beach." Kairi answered.

Sora quickly looked at Kairi, feigning offense.

"Hey, you don't know that!" Sora objected.

Kairi glared slightly at Sora.

"Okay, tell me what you were GOING to do then." Kairi responded.

"I told you before, I was gonna go for a…uh, I was gonna take a…I, uh…"

Sora looked away as he delved into his thoughts, trying to figure out what he was going to say. Kairi smirked as she caught his act.

"A walk?" Kairi answered.

Sora smiled at her.

"Yeah, that's it! A walk! I was gonna go out for a walk." Sora said confidently.

Kairi chuckled at Sora's stupidity.

"Nice try, Sora." Kairi said.

The Mayor laughed.

"Well, I can't blame him for trying." The Mayor looked at Sora. "Look, son, I know it may seem odd living with me, and maybe even with my daughter, but I assure you that you'll get used to all of it in no time!"

Kairi smiled at Sora as she pulled the hood off of Sora's head.

"Welcome home, Sora." Kairi said.

She walked to the table while Sora sighed in annoyance.

"Thanks…it's good to be 'home'." Sora said with a slightly bothered tone.

Kairi picked up her bag sitting on top of the table and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm gonna go."

Sora looked at Kairi with a raise eyebrow.

"Go where?" he asked.

"School." she answered.

Sora tilted his head at her.

"School?"

Kairi stared at Sora curiously.

"Yeah. Don't you know what a school is?" she asked.

Sora crossed his arms and looked down at the floor, thinking deeply about the question.

"Um…"

Kairi widened her eyes in shock. Sora had no idea what a school was. But then again, maybe it was just because of his amnesiac condition.

Suddenly, Sora looked up and innocently smiled at her.

"Is it…something important?" Sora asked.

Kairi simply smiled at Sora.

"Yeah, something like that. It's more of a place to learn." Kairi answered.

Sora made a face as he looked up, indicating that he was thinking again. He looked at Kairi once more.

"Is it fun?" he asked.

Kairi shook her head.

"It's actually the opposite." Kairi answered.

Sora made a disgusted expression. He wasn't a huge fan of boredom.

"Well, can you at least leave whenever—?"

"No."

Sora hung his head low in disappointment.

"Glad I don't have to go…" Sora said.

The Mayor looked at Sora, paying attention to half of what they said about Sora's knowledge of a school.

"Did you two say something about Sora not knowing what a school is?" the Mayor asked.

Kairi stepped ahead of a panicking Sora.

"Actually, yeah, Sora just said that he—"

Springing in to action, Sora rushed to Kairi's side and closed her mouth with his hand, surprising the redhead. Sora quickly smiled at the Mayor.

"No, no! I know what a school is, sir! In fact, I, uh, finished! About…a year ago!" Sora lied.

Kairi tried shouting out some words, but Sora's hand muffled her mouth. She made several attempts to pull the brunette's hand off of her mouth, but Sora fought back. There was no way Sora would go somewhere that would bore the living daylights out of him.

"Oh, I see. Well, that's quite impressive for a young man like yourself! Maybe you could tutor Kairi on several subjects then." The Mayor stated.

Sora lightly chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe I could tutor Kairi some stuff…whatever 'tutoring' is…" Sora muttered to himself.

The Mayor looked at his watch to look at the time. He stood up from the table.

"Well, I have to go to work. I'll see you two in the evening then."

"Okay! We'll see you soon, sir!" Sora said.

With that, the Mayor left the house. Right after, Kairi opened her mouth wide enough to quickly bite Sora's thumb.

"Ow!" Sora yelped.

He quickly pulled his hand back from Kairi's mouth. Sora massaged the bite mark while looking at Kairi in shock.

"You bit me!" he shouted.

"Hmph!"

Kairi crossed her arms and turned her head away from Sora.

"Why did you bite me?! I would've let go!" Sora stated.

Kairi looked at Sora.

"You're lucky I don't hate you. Otherwise, it would've been a lot worse." Kairi said.

Sora smirked at her.

"Since when did you act like such a kid? It seems so unlike you right now." Sora pointed out.

Kairi widened her eyes. He was right; she was acting kind of different lately. Almost like she just found her inner child again.

"I mean," Sora continued, "when I first met you, you acted pretty mature for your age. Calm but mature. It seems odd, you know? Just seeing you go from someone who knows how to act for her age to someone who bites fingers like a little kid."

Kairi was still silent. She didn't understand it either. Why was she suddenly acting like this? Before Sora showed up, some had described her as a girl who would always act her age. She never whined or messed around. She didn't do anything similar to what she just did to Sora.

"Kairi?"

Hearing her name, Kairi snapped back to reality and saw Sora looking at her with concern.

"Huh? What?" she asked.

"I asked if you were okay? You seemed pretty out of it for a second there." Sora said.

"Yeah…"

Kairi quickly gasped and looked at the clock. She now had twenty minutes before her first class started. Luckily the school was only ten minutes away in walking distance.

"I have to go." Kairi said.

"Mind if I tag along?" Sora asked.

Kairi looked at Sora in confusion.

"But you don't go to my school." Kairi pointed out.

Sora placed his hands behind his head and smiled.

"Yeah, but I figured why not come along? I want to get out of the house anyway." Sora explained.

Kairi looked at him suspiciously.

"I don't think so. You'll just sneak back to the beach when you get the chance." Kairi said.

Sora jumped a bit.

"No I wouldn't!" he replied.

Kairi stared at Sora until he gave in and sighed.

"Yeah, I guess I would…but could you at least let me walk with you? I'm not lying about wanting to go outside." Sora pleaded.

"…Swear you won't head back to the beach?" Kairi asked.

Sora rolled his eyes.

"I swear." Sora answered.

Kairi smiled at him, who smiled back.

"Okay. Let's go."

* * *

 _ **At Disney Castle**_

 _Donald,_

 _Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but I couldn't wait any longer. Ever since me and Riku lost our best friend, I couldn't stand to imagine what could've happened to the rest of my friends. So, I decided to leave home in search for them. Riku and Lea even offered to join me too. Now, I should probably tell you the other bad news. Stars have been blinking out one by one, and none of us are sure why that's happening. No doubt that there's gonna be trouble brewin' soon. I wish that either Riku or I could go take care of it, but my friends—they're in trouble too. Luckily, Master Yen Sid has sensed another fella, with a "key"—the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it? We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you to the right direction._

 _P.S. Would you apologize to Minnie for me?_

 _Thanks, pal._

 _Mickey_

Donald, Goofy, Queen Minnie, Daisy, and the dog, Pluto, were all in the library. After reading the King's letter and learning the situation at hand, they were all left in shock.

Daisy was the first to speak.

"Oh dear, what could this mean?!"

Queen Minnie had a sad and worried expression on her face.

"It means…we'll just have to trust the King." Queen Minnie said.

Goofy looked at the Queen with concern.

"Gawrsh, I hope he's alright." Goofy wondered.

Donald looked at the Queen confidently.

"Your Highness!" Donald straightened himself. "Don't worry! We'll find the King AND this 'key'!"

Queen Minnie smiles.

"Thank you. Both of you." she thanked.

Donald looked at Daisy.

"Daisy, can you take care of—?"

Daisy smiled as she cut him off of his sentence.

"Of course. You be careful now. Both of you." Daisy said.

Donald nodded.

"Oh, and to chronicle your travels, _he_ will accompany you."

Queen Minnie gestured to the desk next to her. However, there was no one in sight.

Donald widened his eyes and poked his head forward to get a better look at whom the Queen was referring to.

Suddenly, he saw something jump. It was jumping on a desk.

"Over here!" a voice shouted.

Donald finally saw someone. A cricket, it looked like. He was very small and wore a coat, pants, a top hat, and a pair of shoes.

The cricket stopped jumping.

"Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket, at your service." Jiminy greeted, bowing down.

"We hope for your safe return. Please, help the King." The Queen said.

With sheer confidence, Donald placed his hand over his chest. As Minnie and Daisy smiled at Donald, Goofy was suddenly standing besides them and saluted to Donald as a means of saying goodbye to him.

Donald angrily grabbed Goofy and pulled him out of the library with him.

"You're coming too!" Donald scolded.

* * *

While Donald and Goofy walked down the hangar, they talked to Jiminy about how he arrived to the Disney Castle, how he and the other residents of his previous world were scattered. Jiminy claims to have been the only one who had made it to the castle.

As they reached the hall leading to the hangar, Goofy was the first to speak.

"I guess we'll need new duds when we get to Traverse Town, huh?" Goofy said.

Donald and Goofy had entered the hangar, which consisted of all sorts of gears and gizmos running. A large mechanical gloved hand moved across the room in order to put itself back into place. The Gummi Ship, they called it, emerged from the floor, fully functioned and ready to go.

Donald went to the dock and stood in front of a pipe that protruded from the ground. He cupped his hands around his beak and spoke through the pipe.

"Hello up there?! Donald Duck to launch crew! Anytime you're ready!"

The launch crew, which consisted of two chipmunks, Chip and Dale, had heard Donald's voice. Chip saluted while Dale scrambled across the control room and pulled down a lever. With that, steam blew out of the pipes and other gears had started to spin around. Chip and Dale watched as the two mechanical gloves reached over to Donald and Goofy, and grabbed their rear ends. As they pulled them over to the ship, Donald had crossed his arms and made an angry expression on his face. The mechanical gloves released them, causing them to crash into their seats.

Pluto ran to the hangar and jumped onto the ship. The circular tile underneath the ship spun and directed it to a large with a gigantic hole shaped like a head with two circular ears at the sides. The Queen and Daisy watched as the ship prepared to launch. Donald gave the two ladies a thumbs-up and winked as the ship started its engines.

Donald pointed at the gate.

"Blast off!" he shouted.

A large bright red arrow was pointing at the ground. Then the next thing they knew, the floor underneath the ship quickly opened. The ship had only one quick moment of sitting on top of nothing, until the Universal Power of Logic forced the ship down through the hole. Donald and Goofy screamed as the ship they were in plummeted. The ship then exited their home world and blasted away.

* * *

 _ **At Destiny Islands**_

It was now nighttime at Destiny Islands. The moon was completely covered by clouds. Crickets were chirping and everyone was in their homes, either sleeping or doing something else. Still, despite the quietness and the calmness, the atmosphere seemed unpleasant for some reason…

Sora was sleeping peacefully in the guest room. To him, everything was quiet and peaceful. He breathed in and out as he tried to dream about anything positive in his sleep.

… _sora…sora…Sora…! Sora!_

Hearing his name, Sora quickly opened his eyes and jumped up. He looked around confusedly, swearing that someone said his name. What was weirder was the fact that it sounded like a kid's voice.

He squinted his eyes in the dark room to see if there was anyone else in the room with him.

 _Over here…!_

Sora heard the voice again. No, this voice was different. It still sounded like a kid, but it sounded a little deeper than before.

The echoes of the voice had pulled Sora's attention to the outside. To his surprise, his eyes were pointing at the separate island Kairi used to play at.

Suddenly, he felt a strange feeling in his chest. It seemed like his Heart was trying to tell him something. Placing his hand over his chest, he listened to what his Heart had to say.

 _Go to the island. Find the voice._

Listening to his Heart, Sora opened the window and climbed down. Landing onto the ground, he calmly walked to the beach.

Meanwhile, Kairi was in her room full awake and dressed in her casual clothes. She already finished all of her work and was sitting on her bed. She stared at the wall in front of her, as she was lost in her thoughts. She was still thinking about how she acted so odd during the morning with Sora. She behaved…so differently, but at the same time it felt so familiar; she just couldn't put her finger on it. Sighing, she looked out her window, but then she spotted Sora walking away from the house.

"Sora?" Kairi muttered.

* * *

Sora hopped onto one of the boats at the docks and rowed toward the separate island. He had hoped that the owner of this boat wouldn't mind if he borrowed it. He had to investigate the source of the voice.

Rowing to the island, the brunette stopped by the small dock. He jumped off the boat and onto the wooden surface, before walking onto the island's sandy shores.

Sora looked around the island. The whole island was somewhat turned into a tree house, as the large and wide trees were surrounded by wooden constructs crudely connected to each other and around the trunks of the luscious trees. There was a small wooden shack that seemed to lead to a higher ground, which was connected to a miniature island with a bridge. The miniature island also had a large palm tree that bent over at an angle that made it perfect to be sat on. There was a waterfall peacefully pouring into a small pool of pure water.

After a minute of looking around, Sora still saw no one.

"Whose voice was that?" he wondered.

 _Come on! Follow me!_

"What?"

Sora turned to his right and saw two silhouettes that appeared to be little kids. They ran past under the bridge above them and out of Sora's line of sight.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sora shouted.

He ran to where they were heading, running past the wooden shack and under the bridge. Reaching to their location, he saw no one except for a large wooden wall with a door that probably led to the other side of the island.

Sora stood there with confusion.

"How did…?"

Suddenly, he heard the laughter of kids behind him. He quickly turned around and saw the two kids on the higher ground connected to the shack. They ran away from Sora's sight again. Making use of his Flowmotion skills, Sora quickly ran up the wall and hopped onto the higher ground. Surprisingly, he saw nothing still.

He then saw the same two kids standing far away from him, near the waterfall. He looked as one of the kids gestured an arm at the other kid.

 _This way! In here!_

Sora raised an eyebrow. The two kids walked past the waterfall.

"Where are they going?" he wondered.

Sora jumped down and ran over to the waterfall, while the clouds grew heavier.

By the time he reached the waterfall, the spiky haired teen halted in shock of what he saw.

A cave. It was hiding slightly behind the waterfall but enough to blend in and hide from Sora's eyesight. He started to walk inside, slowly. Entering the cave, he got a good look at its contents. The walls were infested with crude, white chalk drawings that seemed to have been drawn by children. He was amazed by how much drawings there were inside the cave, but then he saw _that_.

There was a large door at the end of the cave. There was no knob or anything. It was just…there.

Sora stepped closer to the door to get a better look, but something caught his right eye. Looking over to that direction and moving his eyes downward, he saw a particular chalk drawing. In his eyes, it looked like a couple of heads drawn on the wall, but there was something between them. Sora squinted his eyes as he stepped forward to see what drawing was made onto the wall…

"Well, look who it is."

Startled, Sora quickly turned around to face the source of the voice. However, he saw nothing in the cave with him. He moved his eyes left to right to double-check. It was strange. The voice sounded similar to his, but its tone seemed…different.

"Who's there?!" Sora called.

"Gotta tell ya, I didn't expect _you_ of all people to come back. Man, you're just full of surprises…aren't you, Sora?"

Sora widened his eyes in surprise. The voice's source knew his name without Sora saying anything.

"Where are you?! Show yourself!" Sora demanded.

"Right behind you." The voice said.

Sora turned around and saw a masked figure, standing between him and the door at the end. Thunder echoed through the cave as Sora saw him.

The figure's mask was was covered with dark glass, hiding his entire face. He seemed to be wearing a black and red bodysuit; it looked…organic. There was also a strange red insignia on his chest. A red belt and a cloth were wrapped around his waist, opening in the front.

The figure sighed.

"I find it hard to believe that you came back. He is NOT going to like this…." The figure muttered.

Sora glared at the mysterious figure.

"Who are you?"

"Come again?" the figure asked.

"I said who are you?!" Sora repeated.

The figure simply stood there and stared at Sora. He let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Unbelievable. Don't tell me you forgot about me." The figure said with an irritated tone.

"Huh?"

"What? Did you forget about _them_ too?" The figure asked.

"What are you talking about? Who's _them_?" Sora asked.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Sora raised an eyebrow at the figure.

"As for my name, you can find that out on your own. But I _can_ tell you this though: now that you're back, we _will_ come after you…"

The figure spoke out the final sentence with a venomous tone in his voice.

"Whether you're ready or not." The figure finished.

The next thing Sora knew, he was forced out of the cave. He slid across the sandy surface with his eyes closing with discomfort. Sora quickly sat up and found himself on the island's beach again. The teen stared at the cave in disbelief of what just happened. He then heard footsteps getting louder behind him.

"Sora!"

Sora snapped out of it and quickly turned to see Kairi running toward him.

"Kairi?"

As soon as she got near to Sora, she knelt down to his level and looked at him with concern.

"Sora, what're you doing here? We need to get back home. There's a storm coming." Kairi said.

Sora's mouth was hanging open, still in disbelief of what he experienced back at the cave. He was shocked to know that there were people who've had history with him. A bad history. He didn't know what was going on anymore.

"Sora? What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

Sora blinked.

"I…I was…I was just following my Heart again and—"

Sora and Kairi gasped, as a group of black shadowy creatures emerged from the ground and surrounded the two, their bright yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Thunder was beginning to boom more frequently. Sora and Kairi quickly stood up.

"What are they?" Kairi asked.

Sora looked at them with wide eyes.

"I…I don't know." Sora answered.

Suddenly, the brunette saw child standing on the miniature island. He couldn't see their face from this distance, but he knew that they were in danger like he and Kairi were.

"Kairi, come on!"

"Sora?!"

Sora grabbed Kairi's hand and ran past through the shadowy creatures. The creatures eventually descended back into the ground and chased after them. The brunette led the redhead to the wooden shack and up to the higher ground. They ran across the bridge and reached the miniature island. Sora let go of Kairi's hand as they faced the child.

"What are you doing out here?! We need to—!"

To Sora's surprise, when the child turned around, he couldn't help but notice how the child looked like himself. This child had the same two same large spikes protruding from the sides of his head, along with a pair of ocean blue eyes. The rest of his hair was laid down like Sora's.

Then suddenly, the little boy blurred and turned into a teenager who looked like he was fourteen years old. The boy had spikier hair and still had ocean blue eyes. He wore a black overjacket with crimson and white trimming. He also wore a silver and black vest underneath the jacket, along with crimson pants. He sported a pair of black and yellow fingerless gloves and two large yellow shoes.

One part of his outfit had shocked Sora even more: around the boy's neck was a silver crown necklace. It looked almost exactly like Sora's, the only difference being the size.

As the boy slowly extended his hand to Sora, he blurred again and turned into a completely different person, someone that Sora didn't recognized at all. He had blue eyes golden blond spiky hair, but the front concentrated the spikes on the right side of his head as if windswept. The back of his hair was smoother and flakier. He wore a jacket that was white on the right side and black on the left side. Underneath this was a gray vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. Underneath the vest was a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also had a chunk of dull green and blue armor on his midsection and another over his left shoulder. He also wore ballooned pants that were colored in shades of gray, black, and white; along with a pair of armored boots.

As the newly formed teen fully extended his hand to Sora, he formed a smile on his face. He showed no signs of fear on his face, but rather complete kindness.

"Who are…you?" Sora asked.

Suddenly, a pool of black and purple colors emerged underneath Sora and the teen. It reached up ad wrapped itself around the two teens. Sora gasped as he and the teen sunk down.

Kairi, unaware of what was happening with Sora, saw that he was sinking down into the black pool.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted.

She quickly ran over and grabbed his hand. Sora, still focused on the teen in front of him, struggled to grab his hand. The teen still showed no fear as he maintained his smile. Sora pushed himself to go farther and reach the teen. The tip of his fingers were extremely close the teen's. As soon as they made contact, a bright white light shone around them, blinding everyone.

Sora and Kairi slowly opened their eyes as soon as the white light faded. Sora felt something in his right hand and looked at it. What he saw was something he didn't expect. In his hand was large sword-like weapon shaped like a skeleton key. The blade and teeth appeared silver, while the guard was gold. Hanging from the hilt of the weapon was a long silver keychain, and at the end of the keychain was a circular head with a pair of circular ears on the sides.

As Sora stared at the weapon, he suddenly felt a throbbing pain in head. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes shut, he quickly grabbed his head to ease the pain.

"Sora!"

Hearing his name, he turned around to see Kairi pointing at the shadowy creatures that followed them. Sora shook off the pain and quickly ran in front of Kairi, destroying the group of shadowy creatures with one swing of the key-shaped weapon, and turning them into black smoke. The teen looked at the beach, which was infested with more of the shadowy creatures. Then suddenly, he saw something by where the cave was. Standing in front of the cave was a pair of tall, white doors.

Sora squinted his eyes.

 _That wasn't there before…_ Sora thought.

He looked back to Kairi, who was looking at him with worry. He quickly grabbed her hand.

"Come on! This way!" he shouted.

They ran across the wooden bridge as the shadowy creatures headed their way to them. Thinking quickly, Sora pulled Kairi onto the top of the wooden shack and ran across it before jumping down near the pool the waterfall was pouring into. They ran up to the white doors. Sora and Kairi looked at the doors in surprise.

"Where did this come from?" Kairi wondered.

Putting his hands on the white doors, Sora pushed them in to gain access to the cave. They rushed inside as the doors closed on their own. Seeing the doors closing shut, Sora and Kairi sighed with relief.

Sora turned around to see the deeper end of the cave. Sora started to walk in that direction while Kairi looked at Sora in confusion.

"This way." Sora said, not looking at Kairi.

Kairi followed Sora as they saw the chalk drawings on the walls. Kairi took a moment to observe the surrounding environment, getting a sense of familiarity. Kairi walked ahead of Sora as she saw more drawings in the cave. Then suddenly, she stopped walking and held her head, as a throbbing pain entered. She started to remember…something. In her small flash of memories, she saw someone with her, a boy, possibly. He was in this cave with her, drawing on one of the walls. Was that her old friend? Or was it…?

"Kairi, you okay?" Sora asked in a concerned tone.

Kairi slowly released her head and blinked several times.

"Yeah…yeah…" she sighed. "I…I just remembered…something about this place…about that boy…"

"What?"

Then suddenly, the cave's door burst open, releasing a strong force of wind directed at Kairi and Sora. Although Kairi tried to keep her feet on the ground, the wind strengthened and threw Kairi onto Sora, who then lost his footing and flew away with Kairi. The next thing they knew, there was a dark portal opening behind them, allowing them to go through it.

As soon as they flew through the dark portal, it quickly faded into nothingness, never to be seen again.

* * *

 **Well, Vanitas is here. Ain't that just a surprise? Now, what is he doing here, you ask? Pfft! I'm not gonna say anything. You'll just have to wait to get what's going on here.**

 **Btw, the 14-year-old Sora was wearing his Dream Drop Distance outfit. Why? I don't know, just why not?**

 **Gotta say, it was pretty fun writing stuff focusing on Donald. It was like watching a scene from an old cartoon show, like revisiting your childhood! That, and the scene where Kairi bites Sora's thumb. Heheh, yeh.**

 **Anyways, just because this story is focusing on Sora and Kairi, that doesn't mean that Donald and Goofy will get neglected. To me, these two Disney characters bring some good comic relief.**

 **Also, I know this story says that it'll have romance, but I'm trying not to include TOO MUCH because 1) I like to tease. 2) If I include too much of it, then it won't have much effect on a reader's emotions. I want to give some sort of feels, especially to the other SoKai shippers out there.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Please review or fave or something... And goodbye for now.**


	4. Deja Vu?

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **Yeahhhh, not as long as the previous chapters, but I think it's good enough for now, so...enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Deja Vu?

Traverse Town. A quaint and calm town, with most of its districts lit up with a variety of lanterns and street poles all around, as it sits underneath a sky of eternal night. In the darkened sky, numerous stars can be clearly seen. A world like this had been constructed from the fragments of destroyed worlds and served as a home to those whose worlds have been destroyed. Despite its tragic origins, however, Traverse Town had been recognized as a wonderful place for shopping various items and equipment.

Coming through the large set of double-doors, which serve as the entrance to the town, were a duck and two dogs; Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Donald and Goofy, however, were dressed in completely different outfits.

Donald was wearing a blue beret that sported a zipper that spanned the length of his beret. He wore a navy blue high-collared jacket with sky blue lining and cuffs, along with several pouches that were colored blue with yellow lining. Two silver zippers that span from the top of the collar to the bottom of the jacket were framing the middle pouch on his jacket. He had a short, blue cape with yellow lining that was draped over his shoulders, kept in place by a silver strap. Donald was also wearing a thick, gold bangle on each of his wrists.

Goofy had an orange hat, with the top resembling a teardrop placed on its side. A small pair of red goggles was placed around the bottom of his hat. He wore a green turtleneck sweater with sleeves that bell out slightly, along with a blue arrow-shaped strap on each cuff. Over the sweater was a sleeveless, black combat vest with gray lining and four pockets of the same color. Goofy wore yellow pants, which were secured by a thick, black belt. The pants had large pockets and a pouch on each leg with a silver zipper. The bottom rims of his pants had been pulled upward in the front by a brown strap. Goofy also wore large brown shoes with steel toes on the outside.

As the two royal assistants walked across the First District, Goofy halted himself as something above him caught his eyes. Donald, who quacked irritably, stopped to see Goofy looking upward. The dog quickly pointed up at the starry night sky, with Donald's eyes following the direction. They looked up in shock and horror to what was happening.

"Look!" Goofy shouted. "A star's goin' out!"

Just as Goofy said, one of the many stars in the night sky had blinked out from existence. Whatever was happening out there, it seemed to happen faster than the two initially thought. Donald quickly looked at Goofy with in seriousness.

"Come on! Let's hurry!" Donald said.

Donald and Goofy continued to walk straight ahead and up the concrete stairs, with Pluto following them. Donald crossed his arms with impatience and irritation as he looked around the District.

"Where's that 'key'?!" Donald quacked.

Goofy looked at Donald as they walked up the concrete stairs.

"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon." Goofy suggested.

As they reached the upper end of the stairs and to the front of bright, large shop, Pluto was sniffing across the ground as he headed to the left side of the building. Goofy took notice of this and then saw Donald heading to the opposite side of the shop. He looked at the duck with uncertainty as he scratched the side of his head with one finger.

"Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that uh…"

Donald, already irritated by Goofy's simple-mindedness, waves him off as he continues to walk ahead.

"Aw, what do you know, ya big palooka?"

Goofy looks back at where Pluto headed, still unsure of things.

"What do I know?" Goofy muttered loudly.

Deciding to head to where Donald went, Goofy shouted across the alley to call Pluto.

"Come on, Pluto!" Goofy called.

Goofy walked away to catch up with Donald. Unbeknownst to them, however, Pluto had stumbled across something peculiar. The yellow-furred dog walked to the back end of an alley, only to find a couple of young teenagers sitting beside each other against a brick wall on his left. He took a closer look at the two teenagers, who happened to be Sora and Kairi. Their eyes were closed and were unconsciously laying their heads over one another, as they did not notice the dog staring at them.

Deciding to wake them up, Pluto started to lick Sora and Kairi's cheeks. After a couple of licks, both Sora and Kairi groaned as they flickered their eyes open. Sora was the first to speak.

"Huh…?" Sora said.

"What…?" Kairi followed.

Sora and Kairi's visions cleared, which let them see the yellow dog sitting in front of them with his tongue sticking out. Sora sighed as he and Kairi slowly closed their eyes.

"What a dream…" Sora muttered.

Suddenly, Pluto quickly shoved the two teens, causing them to yelp in surprise. Sora and Kairi, now fully awake, widened their eyes in shock.

"This isn't a dream!" Sora shouted.

Slowly, Sora and Kairi got up from the concrete floor and let their eyes wander around the area they were in. To them, everything was completely different. This hadn't looked like any place that was within the Islands.

"What is this place?" Kairi asked.

Sora sighed with worry.

"Oh boy…" Sora muttered.

Remembering the dog that woke up them up, Sora and Kairi knelt down to Pluto's height, their hands being placed over their knees.

"Do you know where we are?" Kairi asked the dog.

Suddenly, Pluto's right droopy ear rose up, hearing something from the distance. He rushed off to the open as Kairi reaches her hand out to the dog.

"Hey…!" Kairi called out.

Sora looked at Kairi.

"Let's see where he went to." Sora suggested.

Kairi looked at Sora and quickly nodded in agreement before heading out of the alley.

* * *

Heading out to the open, Sora and Kairi find themselves in another unfamiliar area. It was a bright district filled with a couple of shops and several civilians wandering around. There were two large doors at the end of the district, leading to who-knows-where.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows.

"This isn't Destiny Islands…" Sora said.

Kairi then realized something and widened her eyes in shock.

"I think we're in another world…" Kairi pointed out.

Sora, realizing this as well, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah…Argh!"

Sora quickly held his head and grunted in pain as he saw flashes of himself and the orange-haired boy again. He saw himself talking to the boy before following him into another area of the town using Flowmotion.

Kairi noticed this immediately and looked at Sora with concern.

"Sora?!"

The pain was starting to numb down. Sora slowly returned to reality as he let go of his head and closed his eyes with relief.

"I'm…fine." Sora sighed. "I'm fine."

As Kairi stared with worry, Sora looked back up with an expression of uncertainty. His eyes blinked several times.

"I think…I remember this place…I think I've…been here before." Sora said slowly, still unsure of what was going on with him.

Kairi looked at Sora in surprise.

"Really? You have?" Kairi asked.

The brunette nodded slowly, not looking at Kairi.

"Then…does that mean this could be the world you came from?"

Sora blinked.

Now that question was something he couldn't answer confidently. Sure, he had some flashbacks regarding this place, but that was just it. There was nothing else that could confirm that he originated from this world. If anything, he might've just visited world before instead.

"I don't know, but…a part of me says otherwise…" Sora says softly.

Kairi looked down with both concern and disappointment, unable to find out more about Sora's whereabouts.

"Oh…" Kairi replied quietly.

Sora shook his head and smiled at Kairi. To him, now wasn't a time to be so down in the dumps. Now was the time to think positive, and probably figure out where they were.

"Come on, Kairi! Cheer up! We shouldn't be so negative!" Sora answered.

Kairi looked up at Sora before smiling back at him, affected by his sheer optimism.

"You're right." Kairi agreed. "Come on, let's see if there's someone who can tell us where we are."

Sora nodded in agreement.

"Right."

* * *

At the center of the First District of Traverse Town was a semi-large accessory shop. Inside the shop was filled with all kinds of colorful and twinkly trinkets, such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, etc. Couple of furniture was sitting by one of the corners of the store to make the customers feel comfortable. Sitting across the furniture was a large, red fireplace.

Lying over the green countertop was a middle-aged man chewing on a toothpick in his mouth. He had short blond hair, blue eyes, and some stubble on his chin. He wore a simple white T-shirt and baggy blue pants that reached up to the lower half of his torso, along with black shoes.

He let out a heavy sigh. Business was pretty slow as of now in the shop. Ever since more people showed up in this town, he was expecting more and more people to enter this shop and buy some of these trinkets lying around the shop. However, it seemed things had turned out to be the opposite of what he was initially expecting. Every day, only a couple of people had entered the shop, but most of them so far just looked around and not buy something. It was getting bothersome, all of these accessories and trinkets just sitting and collecting dust; they were beginning to lose their shine.

Then suddenly, the man heard the door opening, letting in a couple of people inside. Hoping that these people would buy something for once, he quickly looked at them and started to greet them.

"Hey there, how can I—"

Unfortunately for him, the people who had entered were only two teenagers; a brunette and a redhead. The man's small smile had fallen.

"Aw hell…" the man groaned. "It's only a couple of kids…"

Sora looked at him with an irritably, feeling upset that the man had used the term _kids_ to describe them.

"Hey, we're not kids." Sora retorted. "We have names you know. The names are Sora and Kairi."

Sora pointed at himself and then Kairi, who then waved slightly at the man.

"Okay, okay, simmer down." The man flicked his toothpick again. "So, Sora, what're you and your friend doing here? You two lost or somethin'?"

"No…" Sora said.

"Well…" Kairi said simultaneously.

Sora and Kairi stopped and shared a glance. The man raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. Sora and Kairi looked back at the man.

"Maybe…" Sora answered.

The man squinted an eye at them.

"Maybe?" he repeated.

"Well…do you know where we are?" Kairi asked.

"Huh? You tellin' me you two don't know where you're at?"

"Well, we're actually from somewhere else. Destiny Islands." Kairi answered.

"You heard of it?" Sora asked.

"Destiny Islands? Not a clue. This here is Traverse Town." The man answered.

Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"Traverse Town?" she repeated.

"That's right." he answered.

Sora and Kairi shared another glance before looking back at the middle-aged man.

"Huh. So, gramps, is this really another world?" Sora asked.

Kairi looked at Sora with shock.

"Sora!" she whispered harshly.

The man's eyes began to narrow and he started to grit his teeth so hard that his toothpick nearly split into two.

"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid!" Cid shouted.

Unlike Kairi, who flinched at Cid's yelling, Sora remained unflinched by the man's wrath and playfully smirked at him.

"Now you know how I feel, huh?" Sora remarked.

"Shaddap!" Cid yelled before drawing breath and calming down. "Not sure what you're on about, but this sure ain't your island."

Kairi wasn't sure at first, but what Cid just said pretty much confirmed her suspicions. It really was true that they were in a different world. It seemed that Kairi's wish was granted after all, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. But nonetheless, she'd managed to cross over into another world like in those tales she had heard before. She then snapped back to reality as Sora spoke again.

"Hmm…well, I guess we'd better find a way back home then, right Kairi?" Sora asked the redhead.

Kairi, however, had something else in mind.

"Actually, I was thinking we could go and look around some more." Kairi answered. "Since we're in another world, you know?"

Sora raised his eyebrows. Not the kind of response he was expecting from Kairi.

"Huh? But, what about your home? Don't you want to head back?" he asked.

Kairi looked at the trinkets underneath the countertop.

"Sora, back at the island, before we met, I've heard stories about people who actually managed to leave for good and crossed over to different worlds like this one." she explained. "And because of those stories, I always wanted to leave the island too, and see those worlds with my own eyes. Like I am, right now."

While Cid chuckled in amusement, Sora only looked at Kairi with a small frown. As much as he wanted to be happy for the redhead and allow her to travel around the town, he couldn't help but worry about the folks back at the Islands. The black creatures that they encountered—what if they showed up in the small town as well? He couldn't help but worry about Kairi's home world, believing that if the creatures had gotten the Islands' residents, there might no home to go back to at all.

"Kairi…" Sora said, "we have to go back. We just came here by accident. You dad could be worried sick about you. And what if those…black monsters are still at the island? We need to see if the guys back home made it out okay."

Kairi looked at Sora with disbelief, but with understanding at the same time. She frowned.

"But…" Kairi began to sigh sadly. "Maybe you're right…maybe we should find a way back."

Cid sighed disappointedly before looking at Sora.

"Sora," Cid whispered, "just do your friend a favor and let her look around the place, would ya? I don't got a clue about what happened back at your island, but I'm sure your folks back there are doin' just fine right now. Besides, the least you could do…is to make everyone happy."

"Make everyone happy…?" Sora muttered.

Those words began to ring in Sora's head. Make everyone happy? They sounded familiar to him, but why? Where did he hear them, though? Did he say it? Or did someone else say those words? Sora started to squint his eyes, as he felt that he was beginning to see something flash into his line of vision. Quickly shaking it off, he looked at Cid with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sora answered.

The brunette looked at the redhead with a smile.

"Come on, Kairi. We can go check out the rest of the town if you want."

A surprised Kairi looked up at Sora.

"Are you sure? What about…?"

Sora still smiled at Kairi.

"I'm sure the guys back home are doing fine right now. Besides, you said you always wanted to see another world with your own eyes, right?" Sora asked.

Kairi nodded before Sora grinned.

"Might as well get started then!" he then said.

Kairi couldn't help but smile at Sora, feeling happy that the brunette is helping her wish come true.

"Okay!"

* * *

 **Sorry, no Leon right now. But hey, there's Cid! That's good enough, right? Right? Meh, yeah I know.**

 **Anyways, more flashbacks for Sora! Wonder what these could mean? I'm not going to say anything. I've already planned almost everything out and I'm not going to ruin the surprises.**

 **Anyways, I hoped you enjoy and PLEASE review. I'd like to hear opinions. Thank you and goodbye.**


	5. Traversing Traverse Town

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **I'M BACK! Sorry it took long. I had to figure some stuff out with my life. Figure out which directions I needed to go. It was either computer-programming or become an author or something. Good God... Welp, enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Traversing Traverse Town

Not so long after, Sora and Kairi had begun exploring the rest of the glowing Traverse Town, starting with the Second District.

Ah yes, the Second District, one of the largest known Districts in town. This particular area is surrounded by various red-roofed houses, along with a very large building that contains a few special surprises behind each set of doors.

On the left, when going through the entrance, you would see a hotel that has been opened for any of the Town's visitors. On the right, however, are colorfully lit-up shops neatly aligned right beside each other. Looking ahead is pretty much the tall white building that supposedly hid those special surprises behind each set of doors, just waiting to be discovered by somebody. At the center of it all was merely a lower ground containing a fountain, which was near to the entrance to the First District. A flight of stairs on the right could lead one down there if necessary.

Walking on top of the tall white building were Donald and Goofy. The two royal assistants carefully turned their heads left and right as they observed the outside area. They were currently looking for Leon, and probably the "Key" if they were lucky enough.

Unfortunately, they spotted no such person in their line of sight. Donald tapped his foot impatiently.

"I don't see them." Donald said.

Goofy cupped his hands around his mouth. "Leeeooon!"

No response.

After a moment of awkward silence, Goofy started to scratch the back of his head before looking at Donald with a questioning look.

"Are ya sure ya know where you're goin', Donald?" Goofy asked.

An irritated Donald shot an angry look at Goofy.

"Of course, I know!" he quacked, "Come on! Let's keep looking!"

Donald walked back into the inside of the building. As Donald started to speed up, Goofy quickly hurried to catch up with the Royal Wizard. At the same time, he looked over to the rest of the area to double check for either Leon or the "Key".

"Gee, I hope they're okay." Goofy gulped with concern. "Gawrsh, what if something bad already happened to them?"

* * *

"Ahahaha! You doing okay there, Sora?"

Kairi found Sora being covered in a huge group of Dalmatian puppies while they were sitting on the carpeted floor. She found it really amusing how there were so many adorable puppies on top of Sora. Even one of them was resting on top of Sora's chocolate brown hair. They seemed to take a liking to him. Sora didn't seem to mind this at all. He still had that huge grin plastered on his face.

"Ahahaha," he laughed, "I'm fine. Just a lot more than I expected to be."

Sora smiled at Kairi.

"They seem to like you too!"

Kairi smiled as well, as she looked at the rest of the Dalmatian puppies that were either sitting or playing around her. They were acquainted with her as much as the others were with Sora. Kairi was holding one of the puppies in her hands, using several of her fingers to play with its tiny paws. At the same time, she was using her other fingers to scratch its small stomach, which was something the puppy really enjoyed.

The mother of the one hundred and one Dalmatian puppies, Perdita, was sitting right next to Kairi, happily watching her and Sora play wither her many children. The father, Pongo, was also watching them play together as he sat beside Sora.

Sad thing is, though, they were all actually transported to Traverse Town when their original home world was destroyed. Their previous owners even disappeared, leaving all of them behind in a strange, foreign world. However, nothing seemed to matter anymore ever since they met Sora and Kairi. These two kids acted so kind and gentle towards Pongo, Perdita, and their kin. They felt radiated by Kairi's warm light, while feeling deeply connected to Sora.

It's safe to say that they were all well acquainted with one another.

Suddenly, the puppy in Kairi's hands was starting to bark happily. Kairi noticed that the puppy was looking at Sora, who was still with the many other puppies that were on top of him.

Kairi began to smile as she noticed its newfound interest with Sora.

"Sora."

Hearing his name, Sora looked away from the puppies and faced Kairi, who was now holding up the happy barking puppy in front of him.

"I think you have another new playmate." Kairi chuckled.

"I guess so." Sora agreed.

He gently moved his arms from the puppies around him. Sora reached over and held the excited puppy in his hands. After doing so, the puppy started to lick his face.

Kairi tried her best to stifle more of her laughter as she watched her friend's face get licked by such an adorable puppy.

After several more moments of playing and conversing with each other, Sora and Kairi eventually decided to say their goodbyes to the Dalmatians and headed on over to the Gizmo Shop.

Sora and Kairi exited the Dalmatians' home and made their way up to the Gizmo Shop, whose entrance was on higher ground.

* * *

As soon as Sora and Kairi arrived and entered the Shop, Donald and Goofy exited from one of the doors of the hotel.

Donald crossed his arms again, while Goofy curiously put a hand under his chin.

"Not here either." Donald said.

"I wonder where either of 'em could be?" Goofy asked.

* * *

Sora and Kairi were immediately stunned and amazed by the interior designs of the Gizmo Shop.

It was somewhat difficult to believe that this was worked the clock on top of this large building. Instead of looking like any other average inner workings of a clock or a machine, this one appeared to be way more decorative and stylish than anything else. The floor, walls, and ceiling were filled with colorful geometric shapes. The machines had meters that formed silly faces onto them. There were so many gears and cogs all over the room as they spun continuously. This whole room looked more like a funhouse than a hazardous workplace.

Sora walked up to one of the smiling machines that caught his eye.

The meter on the bottom portion of the machine was shaped like a silly grin, with the circular meters looking like eyes. The light bulb in the center acted as a nose.

Amused by this intriguing design, Sora called to Kairi, who turned her attention away from the large spinning gears on the wall to look at Sora.

She caught sight of Sora and the machine that was near him. While the machine was smiling as usual, Sora was giving his usual grin as he pointed at the machine. She couldn't help but giggle at the uncanny resemblance between Sora and the machine.

They eventually left the Gizmo Shop, after venturing through the whole interior, and also the whole Second District.

* * *

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were walking down to the ground where the fountain was. They were making their way to the house where Sora and Kairi had recently befriended the many Dalmatians there.

As they reached the entrance to the home, Donald pushed the fancy white doors open only to see a room infested with small black and white puppies.

All of the Dalmatians turned their heads to their latest visitors, curiously staring at the anthropomorphic duck and dog.

Awkwardness had pierced through Donald and Goofy, as they felt somewhat tense by the many curious stares given by the dogs and puppies.

Goofy eyed at Donald.

"Gawrsh, do you think we're intruding their home?" he asked.

Shaking his feathery head, Donald quickly shrugged off the tense feeling he had as he started walking across the puppy-infested room.

"Uh, Donald?" Goofy called.

The last thing Donald wanted was to feel intimidated by a bunch of small furry animals. The fate of the universe was at stake.

"C'mon, Goofy! We need to find that 'Key'!"

Donald was making his way to the other room while trying to avoid squishing the little furry animals.

Eventually, Goofy decided to follow Donald as he started to take a few steps forward…

"YOW!"

In an instant, Goofy turned his attention to Donald, whose finger was being bitten by one of the Dalmatian puppies.

"Oh! Donald!" Goofy shouted, as he stood there watching Donald getting hurt.

Donald tried to shake the puppy's mouth off of his finger. Eventually, the puppy let go and landed back onto the ground, innocently smiling and happily barking at the now-angry duck.

"What was that for?!" Donald shouted.

Unbeknownst to him, the puppy just wanted the duck to be his playmate. Unfortunately for Donald, that's what the rest of the puppies thought about when seeing the duck.

The next thing he knew, Donald plummeted to the ground as the Dalmatian puppies piled on top of him. He was currently being crushed by their collected mass, being helpless as there was no way for him to pull himself out of the gathering puppy pile.

Goofy yelped in shock as he watched his friend get crushed on by a bunch of small puppies.

"Hold on, Donald!" Goofy ran over to Donald.

Now standing in front of the fallen duck, Goofy reached for his friend's hand and tried to pull him from underneath the Dalmatian puppies that were gathered on top of him. Unfortunately, the collected weight of the puppies made it difficult for Goofy to pull Donald out.

Pongo and Perdita, on the other hand, did nothing but sit and watch as the two strange-looking visitors were struggling against their innocent kin.

* * *

"Whoa!" Sora and Kairi said.

They finally arrived at the Fourth District, which was a large festive shopping area. The district housed multiple shops. It was filled all kinds of bright lights and various decorations, such as balloons and streamers. There were flights of stairs with a railing in the center that led to a few lower ground areas, along with a couple of alleyways. One certain feature that stood out the most was a large tower, to which various streamers were tied.

While they stood there appreciating the area around them, several small flying creatures flew by.

These flying creatures shared the same appearance.

They were small and white, resembling plush toys. They had large, spherical heads with small ears that sprouted out of the sides of their heads. Their noses were bulbous and pink. They had stubby hands and feet that lacked any digits. They also sported tiny purple bat wings on their backs. Their most distinctive trait was a large, red sphere attached to the tops of their heads by a thin, brown antenna.

As these creatures caught both Sora and Kairi's interests as they flew in their lines of sight.

One creature flew up in front of Sora and Kairi. It started to wave at them.

"Greetings, kupo! Welcome to the Fourth District, kupo!" the creature said.

Sora and Kairi waved back.

"Hiya!" Sora greeted back.

"Are you here to shop, kupo? We moogles have some super-special goods in, kupo."

"Moogles?" Sora gave a questioning look.

"That's what we're called, kupo." the moogle stated. "Oh, what're your names, kupo?"

Sora smiled at the moogle.

"I'm Sora." he said.

Kairi smiled as well.

"I'm Kairi."

The moogle nodded happily.

"Hello, Sora, kupo! Hello, Kairi, kupo! It's nice to meet you both, kupo!"

Sora grinned while Kairi happily nodded back.

 _CRASH!_

The three turned their heads to the side to see two moogles with a broken wooden crate lying on the ground, leaking out special-looking items.

"Uh-oh. Not again, kupo…" the moogle looked at Sora and Kairi, "I have to go, kupo. But feel free to look around, kupo!"

The moogle quickly flew over to the other two moogles. They were starting to converse with one another about the fallen crate lying near them.

Sora looks back at the rest of the area in amazement. It all looked so huge and so fun to go through. He felt the sudden excitement coursing through him as he remembered his flowmotion abilities which he could make use of in this environment. However, his mind suddenly thought back to Kairi, who was still standing next to him. He couldn't just leave her all by herself while he would go have fun traversing with his flowmotion skills again.

So he made another option.

"Kairi."

Kairi turned her head to Sora, who was grinning at her.

"You up for something a little fun?" Sora asked.

Kairi gave him a quizzical look.

"Huh?" Kairi responded.

Before she knew it, Kairi was now in Sora's arms, bridal style. She had a surprised expression on her face, as she didn't expect the boy to do something like this at any point.

"W-what are you doing?!" Kairi stuttered.

Sora grinned again as he faced his head forward.

"Like I said…" Sora took a few steps back, "just something a little fun…"

"Fun…?" Kairi asked.

In an instant, it hit her. The moves Sora pulled off back at Destiny Islands. He was going to do it here too.

Slightly panicking, Kairi quickly kicked her legs in an attempt to break free of Sora's hold. Sora, however, held her tight as he readied himself.

"N-no!" Kairi stuttered again, "Wait! Just put me down! I can—!"

"Too late!" Sora shouted.

Sora instantly sprinted his way down to the area ahead. Pushing his legs off the ground, he launched him and Kairi onto a nearby wall.

Sora landed onto the wall with the soles of his feet.

"SORAAAA-AAAAHHH!" Kairi screamed.

He rocketed high up in the air with Kairi in his arms.

"WOOHOO!" Sora yelled.

Frightened by this new experience, Kairi quickly covered her eyes while Sora happily laughed as he traversed the Fourth District with her.

While in the air, Sora quickly landed on a second wall, right before he launched himself onto another. He repeatedly launched from wall to wall several seconds before soaring into the air again and falling down to one of the stair railings below them.

Sora could feel the wind pushing against him and Kairi as they fell downward.

Sora safely landed onto the metal railing and grinded down the staircase. Kairi still had her eyes covered during this process. They neared the lowest ground of the district as Sora reached the end of the railing. However, Sora didn't want to stop there.

Instead, he jumped off as soon as he and Kairi hit the end of the railing and flew towards the large, bright entrance at the end of the district. Landing on the upper portion of the entrance, Sora leaped into the air again with Kairi and aimed for one of the streamers connected to the large tower in the center.

Sora safely landed on the streamer and grinded across until he and Kairi reached to the top of the tower. Finally getting off the streamer and onto the tower, Sora looked back at Kairi, who was still covering her eyes with her hands.

Sora smiled at this as he gently set her on the ground. He pulled his hands back and stepped in front of Kairi.

"Kairi. Kairi~." Sora sang.

"What?" Kairi still didn't look.

"We're here."

After a few seconds, Kairi slowly uncovered her left eye to see her own two feet on a flat surface. She then lowered both hands to reveal a surprised expression on her face.

Kairi quickly looked back at Sora, who grinned and raised his arms out.

"Ta-da!" Sora shouted happily.

Pouting, Kairi hit Sora in the arm, causing him to flinch.

"Ow! Why?" Sora cried as he massaged his arm.

"You scared me!" Kairi shouted, "If I'd known what you were planning to do, I—!"

Sora chuckled as he raised his arms in front of her.

"Kairi, relax, okay?" Sora said, "I wouldn't do anything to hurt a friend. Besides, you gotta admit, it felt pretty exciting."

Kairi opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she immediately held her breath. She couldn't think of anything to say to him. Sora raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for a response to come out. Unfortunately, Kairi had none and decided to angrily pout at him.

Sora simply smirked at her.

"Don't be mad~." Sora teased, "Besides, you know it was definitely worth it."

Sora pointed behind Kairi, who then turned around to see what he meant by that.

He was right. From the tower, they could see everything from the lit-up houses to the beautiful starry night sky. It all just felt so breathtaking.

As Kairi smiled at the view, Sora confidently walked up next to her with his hands in his pockets.

"So…who told you so?" Sora asked confidently.

Hearing this, Kairi made a small pout.

"…You did." Kairi answered.

"Heheh…So who—?"

"Don't push it."

"Okay."

Kairi quickly smiled and Sora did the same. She breathed in and let out a sigh.

"This is nice." Kairi said.

"Hmm?" Sora said, giving her a quizzical look.

"Here. This town…the night sky…the people. Everything. It feels so…different, but it also feels really new to me. I just wish this could last forever."

Sora smiled again as he looked back at the incredible view.

"Same here…" Sora said.

Unbeknownst to Kairi, however, Sora started to receive a few more flashbacks regarding the orange-haired boy and now a beanie-wearing girl. He inconspicuously held back the mental pain and held his smile, just so Kairi wouldn't worry.

Speaking of whom, Kairi let out a satisfying sigh and looked at Sora, who just managed to shrug off the literally painful flashbacks.

"So…" Kairi spoke, "how do we get down from here?"

Sora looked at Kairi and smirked.

Knowing what that meant, Kairi made a disapproving face.

"It's the only way down." Sora chuckled.

After a few seconds, Kairi gave in and sighed.

"Okay." Kairi said.

Sora lifted Kairi up in his arms bridal style. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Kairi's violet eyes were suddenly on Sora's v-neck, which happened to show a little more skin that she initially expected. She could actually see a huge part of his bare chest.

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

"You can close your eyes again, if you want." Sora teased, unaware of what Kairi was looking at.

"Shut up." Kairi replied, immediately taking her eyes off of Sora's v-neck.

Unbeknownst to Sora, Kairi closed her eyes shut.

Sora stepped onto the streamers connected to the tower and grinded down toward the end of the district. Reaching to the end of the streamer, he jumped off and fell downward. Sora then safely landed on the ground, with his legs bending down. After straightening his legs, he looked at Kairi, who just opened her eyes. The boy set her on the ground while she unwrapped her arms from his neck. Kairi's feet reached the ground and her hands were completely removed from Sora.

Suddenly, they heard a voice shouting from a distance.

"Run, kupo!"

Suddenly, a small group of moogles quickly zipped past the two teenagers. They looked at the moogles in surprise and confusion.

What could possibly scare away those moogles from wherever they flew from?

"AAAHH!"

Sora and Kairi quickly turn to where the moogles came from.

A middle-aged man ran toward the two teenagers. He tumbled down on the ground before quickly turning around in extreme fear.

The next thing they knew it, a pink glowing heart flew out of the man's chest, causing him to disappear completely from existence. The spinning heart wandered in the air until it eventually disappeared.

Sora and Kairi gasped, as a small knight-like monster appeared from a small whirl of darkness.

Sora's key-shaped weapon automatically appeared in his right hand. He looked back at the situation in front of him.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted.

The monster leaped at Kairi, who instantly closed her eyes shut and prepared for the worst.

However, Sora jumped in front of Kairi and quickly swung his weapon at the monster, forcing it away. He quickly ran at the monster before twirling in the air and slamming his weapon down on the monster, destroying it completely.

As Sora watched the monster vanish into a dark wisp, Kairi quickly ran up to him.

"Was that…?" Kairi spoke.

"Yeah." Sora nodded. "It looked similar to the monsters back at the island."

Kairi's face saddened.

"Then that means our world isn't the only one…"

Sora looked at Kairi with a concerned expression.

"Come on. We should go find Cid. There could be more of them and we need to let him know about this." Sora said.

Sighing, Kairi nodded.

"Okay."

Sora and Kairi quickly left the district, as they tried to make their way back to Cid at his shop.

* * *

At this point, Sora and Kairi made their way to the Fountain Plaza, which was a large, spacey area with a large heart-shaped fountain nearby. Large graffiti was written on one of the brick walls around the plaza.

Sora and Kairi walked up to the center of the area. They suddenly hear a voice.

"They'll always come at you, you know."

Sora and Kairi turned around to the source of the voice.

"What?" Sora responded.

A man appeared in front of them.

He sported long brown hair, with the bangs swept to the left side of his face. He had blue eyes and a scar that ran across his nose. He wore a small, short-sleeved black jacket with a fur collar. There were red wings drawn on the back of his jacket, along with a red Griever symbol on each shoulder. He also wore a white undershirt underneath. He had black gloves and a silver Griever necklace. He wore black pants held up by four belts, two of them being either brown or black. His black shoes were lined with zippers.

"And they'll continue to come after you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."

The man pointed at the weapon in Sora's hand. Sora and Kairi looked at the weapon in confusion.

"A Key…blade?" Sora asked.

The man sighed and shook his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?" he slowly raised his head up, "Unless…"

Sora raised an eyebrow at the ominous man.

"Huh? What's that supposed to—WHOA!"

Sora quickly jumped away, as the man tried to take a swing at him with his silver sword.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted.

Sora got into a fighting stance with his Keyblade, as the man hefted his sword onto his shoulder.

"What's gotten into you?!" Sora shouted. "You looking for a fight or what?!"

The man shrugged. "Maybe I am. Now, let's see what you're made of."

Kairi worriedly stepped back as she watched her friend face off this threatening stranger.

The man charged at Sora. He swung his sword down on Sora, but Sora raised his Keyblade to block the attack. Pulling back their weapons, they quickly swung their swords at each other. Each fast swing met with a sound of clashing weapons.

The man was on the offensive, while Sora would parry him with his two-handed strikes.

Sora acrobatically twirled and flipped around while swinging his Keyblade at the man's attacks. The man strongly swung his sword around three times before finishing the combo with a spinning slash.

Sora raised his Keyblade in front of him, but the finishing spin attack pushed him back.

The man charged at Sora before leaping in the air with his sword above his head. He pulled it downward as he fell, but Sora quickly rolled away from the attack. He raised his sword and aimed it at Sora, firing out a flaming projectile at him. Sora acrobatically dodged the fireball before running across the area, with the man on his tail.

As they ran across the plaza, Sora and the man continued to clash swords, swiping at each other endlessly. For half of the time, Sora would acrobatically twirl and flip over the man's heavy swings. Then he would go on the offensive while the man parried his attacks.

They went at this until they reached the graffiti wall, where Sora would flip over another of the man's swing and land on the wall. Using his flowmotion skills, he pushed himself off and launched at the man.

Quickly swinging his Keyblade, Sora managed to land a hit on the man as he landed behind him. Sliding on the ground, he turned to the man again and leaped toward him. With the man facing in front of him, Sora threw three fast swings of his Keyblade at the man right before finishing it with a powerful, twirling swing, knocking the man to the wall.

Sora leaped again, but this time, the man quickly retaliated with a quick swing of his sword, knocking Sora away. Rolling back onto his feet, Sora charged again. The man did the same.

The man swung first, but Sora quickly jumped over him. He swiped at the man's attacks while in midair. After landing behind the man, they slammed their weapons against each other again.

Their weapons were locked in a stalemate. They looked at each other with fierce determination in their eyes. The weapons started to shake, soon to reveal who would win this stalemate.

Suddenly, Sora's hands gave in, causing the man to swing his blade up. Sora's Keyblade got knocked out of his hands and twirled to the ground behind him.

The man horizontally swung at Sora, but he quickly pulled away from the attack, narrowly dodging the bladed edge an inch away. Sora back-flipped towards his Keyblade as the man finished his swing.

Grabbing and pulling his Keyblade from the ground, Sora readied himself again as the man charged at him. Unexpectedly, however, Sora flung his Keyblade at the charging man.

Unfortunately, the man didn't see this coming and didn't have time to prepare for the attack. He was forcefully knocked back from the throw as the Keyblade bounced from his body and into the air, before falling back into Sora's right hand.

The man was now on the ground with one knee. He tried to stand back up, but his leg gave in and he fell back down, with the blade of his sword hitting on the ground.

Sora got out of his stance and panted heavily, knowing that the fight was over. His breathing was uneven, but he didn't notice this as he glared at the downed man.

"Now…you're…gonna…you're gonna…"

 _THUD!_

Sora fell backwards on the ground, his hand still holding onto the Keyblade.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted at Sora worriedly.

She heard the man slowly getting back up as he pulled his sword off the concrete ground. She then looked back at Sora, who was still unconscious.

As the man stood up, Kairi quickly ran over to Sora. The man walked over to Sora, until Kairi appeared in front of him with her arms raised out as a means of protecting Sora.

She shot a glare at the man.

"Leave Sora alone!" Kairi shouted.

"Relax kid," the man sighed, "I just wanted to test your friend there. I'm not gonna hurt either one of you."

"Aw, you're slipping Leon!"

The man turned his head to the source of the voice behind him.

Kairi and he saw a girl standing with her hands on her hips.

The girl had violet-colored eyes and short black hair, along with a black headband over her forehead. She wore an unzipped, dark gray combat vest with a navy blue tank top underneath. She wore a white wristband on her right wrist, and a gray fingerless glove on her left arm. She had black shorts with a black strap dangling from the left side. She also wore black, knee-high socks underneath the dark tan boots.

The girl smiled at the man, who had a solemn look on his face.

"I went easy on him." The man claimed.

"Right~" The girl said skeptically.

Kairi gave them a look of confusion and slight anger.

"Just who are you?" Kairi asked.

The two strangers looked back at Kairi, who still had her arms raised out in front of Sora.

"Just a couple of friends you haven't met yet." The girl smiled at Kairi.

Kairi gave her a quizzical look.

"Friends?" Kairi repeated.

The man nodded. "And it looks like things are worse than we thought."

The man's eyes were on Sora and the Keyblade he still held in his hand.

"A lot worse."

* * *

 **I just want to let you guys know that I'm still working on this story. I WANT to give you guys what my mind was and still is on. In fact, there's a few major things on my mind about Kingdom Hearts. This is just how I'm expressing my thoughts for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. I'm doing what I can to get this taken care of, so don't you worry.**

 **Also, once I finish this story, I'm gonna go back to the first four chapters and revise them. I read back to the chapters and...they suck in my eyes. So I'm gonna return after this story ends completely.**

 **I'll return and try to give the sixth chapter. It's only a matter of when and all that stuff. So I'll see you guys next time.**


	6. A Beautiful Friendship

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **I tried my best here, so I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Beautiful Friendship...

After that humiliating situation with the Dalmatians, Donald and Goofy left the house and continued their search for both Leon and the "Key".

Goofy had his fingers in his mouth with a scared expression on his face.

"Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky!" Goofy said frightfully.

The two royal assistants found themselves walking at a dark, empty alleyway behind the hotel. This alleyway had passages to the Dalmatians' house and the First District, along with a drainage pipe lying next to it.

While Goofy expressed was expressing fear, Donald was trying his best to toughen up as he kept a serious expression on his face.

"Aw phooey! I'm not scared." Donald claimed.

As they continued to walk forward, a hand reached out to them. It poked on Donald's left shoulder. Startled by the sudden physical contact, Donald screamed.

"WAAAK!"

The duck launched upward and fell on top of Goofy, holding the knight tightly by his neck. Donald closed his eyes shut as he shook and trembled like a leaf.

"Excuse me. Did the King send you?"

Donald opened his eyes while Goofy widened his. They turned around to see a young woman standing behind them.

She had green eyes and long brown hair styled into a braid down her back, with curls on both sides of her face. She had a red ribbon tied to the back of her hair. She wore a carmine-pink and white top held up by a string wrapped around her neck. Underneath this top was a pink dress with a horizontal white stripe near the bottom. She also had a pair of brown boots.

She gave Donald and Goofy a kind smile, displaying her kindness to the royal assistants.

* * *

It all felt familiar. It was quiet. It was empty. It was cold. It was…dark.

Sora flickered his eyes open. As his vision cleared, he found himself drifting in a blackened world. No, not a blackened world. It was absolute darkness.

He heard nothing. He saw nothing. He felt nothing. Nothing except for darkness.

"Kairi?!" Sora called.

Sora looked around for Kairi, but she was nowhere to be seen. He started to worry not for himself, but for his friend.

"Kairi?! Where are you?!" Sora called again.

Sora spun around in a full circle, trying again to see if Kairi was somewhere here in this disturbingly dark area.

"Wakey wakey, Sora."

Sora quickly turned around and saw the last person he'd expect to see.

The masked figure was there in front of Sora, floating in the darkness with him. Sora was startled by the figure's sudden presence.

"Huh?! You?!" Sora shouted.

He heard the figure chuckling darkly.

"It's been a while, 'old friend'." The figure said. "How long has it been since we last met? Days? Months? Oh, right, you don't remember. That's too bad. Hey, you think Kairi can help jog your memory?"

Sora had an angry expression on his face as he looked at the masked figure.

"Who are you?!" Sora demanded.

"…"

"Answer me!"

"…Your past come back to haunt you."

Before Sora could say anything else to the figure, the glass of his mask exploded as a more threatening form of darkness expanded from the figure's face. The darkness spread and reached out to Sora, who was now being engulfed inside itself.

Sora tried to pull himself away from the darkness, but it was no use as it continued to spread across his body.

Sora slowly panicked as the darkness began to consume his body. Suddenly, a bright light appeared and engulfed him and everything around Sora. He heard a voice calling out to him.

"…sora…Sora…Sora! Sora!"

Sora jumped up mildly drenched in sweat. He panted heavily, trying to think back to what just happened.

Sora startled as a hand was placed on his shoulder. He quickly turned to his left to see his friend, Kairi, sitting next to him with a concerned expression on her face.

"Sora, calm down! It was a nightmare. That's all." Kairi reassured.

Sora quickly looked around him and Kairi. They were inside a green room, sitting on a comfy bed. There was a small circular table standing in the middle of the room, along with a couple of chairs pushed against it. There was a green-colored entrance with a wooden door in the center. There was another door across the side of the bed. The room was lit up with a few lights on the walls and ceiling.

Sora blinked a few times while panting, albeit less heavily.

"I…I don't…I don't…think it…" Sora breathed.

Sora grunted as he held his head in confusion.

 _What's going on with me?_ Sora thought.

Kairi continued to look at Sora with a worried expression.

"You okay?" Kairi asked.

Finally calming down, Sora sighed as he lowered his hand down to the bed.

"I don't know…" Sora muttered.

Footsteps were heard getting closer to them.

"Looks like someone had a bad dream, huh?"

Sora and Kairi looked at the girl standing in front of them, still smiling and whatnot.

"The name's Yuffie, by the way." Yuffie greeted.

"Uh…" Sora spoke, not knowing what to say to the two girls about his dream.

Yuffie quickly turned around.

"I think you've overdone it, Squall." Yuffie said.

The man revealed himself in the room, walking over and now standing in front of the three people.

"It's Leon." he said.

Sora's expression hardened as he saw Leon appear.

"You…!" Sora said.

He got his feet onto the ground and tried to stand up, but he was still too weak to do so, causing a worried Kairi to hold him back down by the shoulders.

Leon was unfazed by Sora's expression.

"Relax," Leon said, "I'm not here to hurt you. What happened back there, I was only trying to test you."

"What?" Sora furrowed his eyes at Leon.

Leon turned his head over to the Keyblade, which was lying against the wall near the green entrance.

Sora looked at the weapon in surprise.

"The Keyblade…!" Sora said.

Yuffie walked up to Leon's side.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. They used it to find you."

Yuffie turned around as Leon looked at Sora.

"They'll lose track of you." Leon looked at the Keyblade. "But it won't work for long."

He looked back at Sora.

"You fought pretty good." Leon said to Sora. "For a kid anyway."

Leon's eyes went back to the Keyblade, which he picked up from the ground. He started to have a skeptical look on his face.

"Still, hard to believe that you, of all people, is the chosen one."

Leon swung the Keyblade to the side right before it vanished. It reappeared in Sora's right hand, surprising him and Kairi.

"But," Leon sighed, "I guess beggars can't be choosers."

Sora raised an eyebrow as Kairi and he looked back at Leon.

"'Chosen one'?" Sora repeated. "You're not making any sense. What's going on?"

* * *

Donald and Goofy were currently with the woman named Aerith inside a red-colored hotel room, which somewhat resembled the green room Sora and others were in.

Funny thing is that this room was connected to the green room.

Donald and Goofy stood in front of Aerith, who sat on the end of the bed.

"Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there, besides your castle and this town, right?" Aerith asked.

Donald crossed his arms and tapped his webbed foot impatiently, while raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah?" Donald said.

"But they're supposed to be a secret!" Goofy whispered as he muffled his mouth with both hands.

Aerith nodded.

"They've _been_ secret because they've never been connected. Until now."

"Huh?" Donald and Goofy responded simultaneously.

"When the Heartless came, everything changed."

* * *

"The Heartless?" Kairi asked.

"The ones that attacked you two. Remember?" Yuffie asked.

"Those without Hearts." Leon defined.

"They're attracted to the Darkness within people's Hearts." Yuffie explained.

"Every Heart?" Kairi repeated.

Leon nodded at her.

"Hey, have you guys heard someone named Ansem?" Yuffie asked.

Sora's eyes were now on the ground. The name was slowly starting ring in his head. At the same time, however, he felt a painful surge in his head. Sora held it he squinted his eyes in discomfort.

* * *

"Ansem?" Goofy repeated.

"Yes." Aerith nodded. "He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report."

"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?" Goofy asked, scratching his head curiously.

Aerith sadly shook her head.

"Its pages are scattered everywhere." She explained.

"Scattered?!" Donald angrily twitched an eye.

"To many worlds." Aerith said, unfazed by Donald's frustration.

Goofy hummed in thought.

"Maybe we ought to find them and see what they say about the Heartless!" Goofy suggested.

"Wait!" Donald jumped to get their attention. "We need to find that 'Key' first!"

Aerith nodded.

"Yes. The Keyblade."

* * *

Sora lifted the Keyblade up in front of him.

"This…is the 'Key'?" Sora asked while giving a quizzical look.

"Yep." Yuffie nodded.

"The Heartless fear the Keyblade's power. That's why they'll keep coming for you, not matter what." Leon said.

Sora raised an eyebrow at them.

"But wait, what makes you think I wanted this kind of job?" Sora questioned.

"The Keyblade chooses its Master. And it _chose_ you." Yuffie said.

"So tough luck." Leon lied against the wall crossing his arms.

Now gaining his strength back, Sora stood up with the Keyblade still in his right hand.

"Yeah, but you guys are all _hard work_ and _deadlines_!" Sora emphasized while using frantic hand gestures, before twirling his Keyblade in the air and catching in his hand. "And I'm all about happy faces and good times. I can't be the Chosen One."

Sora slung the Keyblade over his shoulders, letting his left empty hand rest over the silver metal of the weapon.

"Besides, aren't there any other people who have a Keyblade like I do?" Sora continued. "Because...something inside me tells that I'm not the only one with this Keyblade. And, if there are, shouldn't that mean there's already someone who's better cut out for this task?"

Kairi gave her friend a concerned look.

"Sora…" Kairi spoke.

"You're right about one thing…" Leon said, still lying against the wall.

"Huh?" Sora and Kairi said together.

"It's true that there are other Keyblade Wielders out there. Possibly much more stronger and much more skilled than you are right now…"

"All the more reason to find someone more qualified for this than I am." Sora stated.

"…But, they can't take this job. Not until they tend to their own personal matters." Leon finished.

Kairi gave him a questionable look.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.

"According to the King, before he left, he had three friends who wielded the Keyblade, like him and Sora." Yuffie explained.

"But then they all went missing, never to be seen by anyone again." Leon continued. "The King recently decided to go look for them. And he brought the remaining Keyblade Wielders along with him."

"The King never acted like this, you know. Having to save his friends instead of going to save the rest of the world." Yuffie said.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows as he took his Keyblade off his shoulders.

"Then why did he…?"

"He and another Wielder lost a very good friend to the Darkness. This friend sacrificed himself, just so he could give the two others a fighting chance. But this took a serious toll on both of them." Leon explained.

"Ever since then, the King couldn't stand to imagine what could've happened to the his missing friends." Yuffie added.

"So he decided to go out and look for them, just so they wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as his other friend did."

Sora stood silently, trying to process all of this information. Kairi spoke out to them.

"Could you tell us who was it that…passed away?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie looked at Leon, who closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Sorry. Only the King knows who that person is, but he's not here right now." Leon said.

"Did he ever tell you where he was headed?" Kairi asked.

"…You know what, I really don't know." Leon said.

Kairi lowered her head in disappointment. "Oh…"

Noticing the downed expressions on Sora and Kairi's faces, Yuffie decided to lighten the mood. She walked over to Sora and Kairi and patted both of them on the shoulder.

"Come one, you guys! Cheer up!" Yuffie said cheerfully before looking at Sora. "Didn't you say that you were all about 'happy faces and fun times'?"

Looking at Yuffie in surprise, Sora then smiled and chuckled. Kairi did the same.

"Right. I forgot." Sora said with a smile. "Sorry about that."

Leon and Yuffie nodded.

"I think it's time you prepare yourself for the Heartless. You ready?" Leon asked.

Sora nodded as Kairi stood up like he had before.

"Yeah!" Sora said.

Sora and Kairi walked up to Leon, who got off the wall and uncrossed his arms.

"Good." Leon looked at Yuffie. "Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Leon!"

Yuffie pointed at a knight-like Heartless that appeared above the circular table, surprising both Sora and Kairi.

"Yuffie, go!" Leon pointed at the green entrance behind him.

Doing as Leon told, Yuffie ran to the door.

* * *

At the same time, Donald was about to open the door leading to the adjacent room.

"WAAAKKK!" Donald screamed.

However, Yuffie barged through the door, forcing it open and squashing poor Donald against the wall.

Yuffie ran past a surprised Aerith.

"Yuffie!" Aerith shouted before quickly following her.

Sora and Leon held their own weapons in their hands while facing the Heartless that pranced around the room. Kairi was standing behind the two swordsmen.

"Kairi, go with Yuffie!" Sora said.

Kairi shook her head. "No! I'm coming too!"

"Kairi, it's too dangerous!" Sora warned.

The Heartless ran and jumped through the glass window, shattering it open. Leon swiped his sword.

"Sora, let's go!" Leon shouted.

Leon ran and jumped out the window to follow the Heartless. Sora, on the other hand, looked back at Kairi with a pleading expression.

"Please." Sora pleaded.

Kairi gave a concerned look. "But…"

"I promise I'll come back to you as soon as possible. Will that be enough for you to stay with Yuffie?"

"…You swear you'll be back?"

Sora gave a reassuring smile.

"I swear." Sora promised.

Kairi smiled back.

"You better be telling the truth." Kairi said.

Sora ran and jumped out the window.

"It's a legitimate answer!" he shouted.

Looking back to the door behind her, Kairi ran into the red room and followed Yuffie.

As Kairi ran past the entrance, Goofy stood in front of the wooden door, which slowly moved towards the entrance. As the door closed shut, it revealed a flattened Donald Duck, who had a shocked expression on his face.

* * *

 **Ah, another chapter posted. Now about this one, if any one of you believe that Sora's acting a little OOC, let me remind you that this Sora is amnesiac. Also, there may be something lingering inside of him that's trying to remind of him of who he's supposed to be and all that.**

 **In this fanfic, Amnesiac Sora right now is more like the guy that says "They say Fate chose me, but something inside me says that's false. Something else to going on..."**

 **My ideas for this story and for Sora, and stuff, may be different from what you guys will expect. But I just hope you look forward to more of this story.**

 **I'll explain things in due time, once the smoke has been cleared. But for now, I'll see you guys later.**


	7. The Key!

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **WHEW! Another chapter posted. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 7: The Key!

Jumping out of the hotel window, Sora fell down and safely landed on the ground.

He looked at the surrounding area and found himself in a back alley. At the same time, there were about four, knight-like Heartless as they surrounded Sora. Every single pair of menacing eyes was on him, due to the mysterious Keyblade in his right hand.

One by one, the Soldier Heartless charged at Sora, sharp claws at the ready. Sora quickly dodged each attack, sidestepping and acrobatically jumping over the charging Soldier. After the last Soldier missed him, Sora began to charge towards one of the armored creature.

With two hands on the Keyblade, Sora twirled in the air and slammed his Keyblade down into the Soldier, which evaporated into nothingness. He quickly turned around and dashed to the next nearest Soldier. Sora performed a single combo consisting of three quick slashes and then heavily swung the Keyblade sideways, knocking back the Heartless right before it evaporated.

The third Soldier appeared in front of Sora and attempted to charge at him again, pointing its claws at the Keyblader. Sora, however, quickly did the same thing as he pulled back and forcefully thrust the Keyblade to the enemy. In an instant, the Heartless had missed Sora's face only by a hair, while Sora had managed to pierce through the Heartless's chest with the blunt tip of the Keyblade. The Soldier vanished as Sora slid past it.

As he skidded to a halt, Sora made a surprised expression on his face, completely unaware that he could pull something off like that with a weapon. Perhaps it was from the power of the Keyblade? He quickly shook off the thought as he noticed another Soldier behind him.

Sora turned around as he saw the last remaining Soldier running at him with its arms flailing behind like wet noodles. With the Keyblade in his right hand, Sora pulled his arm back before throwing the Keyblade straight at the last Heartless. The Keyblade spun in fast circles as it instantly bashed the Soldier into nothingness.

The Keyblade instantly returned to its Master's right hand in a ray of light. With the coast being clear, Sora looked around as he searched for the presence of a certain missing person.

"Leon?!" Sora shouted. "Where are you?!"

Leon hadn't responded, indicating that he was already far ahead of Sora. Deciding that was the case, Sora ran across the alley and returned to one of the previously visited districts.

At the same time, the masked figure was standing on a rooftop of one of the buildings across the hotel. He had watched the whole thing in action, from Sora destroying a small group of Heartless to him hopelessly calling out a seemingly more experienced fighter for guidance.

"Hmph. Some hero he's supposed to be…" the masked figure muttered bitterly.

* * *

"What?! He was just there?!" Donald shouted.

Donald and others had escaped the hotel and resided in a small house that was far away from the previously Heartless-infested area. The house consisted of a small room decorated with a light blue color, along with a set of boxes and a comfy bed.

Goofy looked on in surprise, while Aerith made a concerned expression. Kairi and Yuffie merely watched Donald as he fumed with anger and frustration.

"He went with Leon to fight the Heartless." Yuffie explained.

Donald let his arms droop downward as he let out a frustrated sigh with half-closed eyes.

Kairi looked at Aerith with a worried look on her face.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Kairi referred to Sora.

Aerith gave a gentle smile.

"I'm sure your friend is going to be fine. We just need to have faith him." Aerith said.

Kairi's eyes pointed at the floor under her feet. She knew that Sora was capable to handle things on his own, but something inside told her that she needed to be there with him. Her Heart was telling her that she needed to look out for him, to protect him from whatever danger that he wasn't ready to face alone.

Back to the situation at hand, Goofy was currently scratching the back of his head.

"Gawrsh, maybe we ought to go and look for him. He is the 'Key' after all!" Goofy said.

Donald raised his head up and crossed his arms in an irritated manner.

"And we need him…" Donald added.

"Ahyuk!" Goofy laughed.

Donald shook his head and lowered his arms before he turned and walked towards the door. He gestured Goofy to follow.

"Come on, Goofy. Let's go." Donald said.

Goofy nodded and followed the duck.

"Right behind ya, Donald." Goofy responded happily.

"I'm coming too."

Donald and Goofy halted and turned around to see Kairi with a determined look on her face. Yuffie and Aerith looked at Kairi as well.

Donald shook his head with an angry look in his eyes. He was already frustrated enough with this wild goose chase for the "Key". The last thing he wanted to add on his to-do list was to look after a little teenager who could barely fend for herself.

"No!" Donald said.

Kairi stiffened a bit from Donald's shout. Goofy looked at the duck worriedly.

"Donald?" Goofy said.

"No! You're staying with them!" Donald pointed at Yuffie and Aerith. "We're here to find the 'Key'! Not to babysit!"

Kairi took a step forward as she glared back at Donald, refusing to back down from this argument.

"I can take care of myself!" Kairi responded. "Let me come with you! He's my friend! I…I want help him."

Aerith, Yuffie, and Goofy looked at Kairi worriedly.

"Kairi…" Aerith said.

"You don't have a Keyblade to defend yourself from the Heartless like Sora does." Yuffie spoke more kindly than Donald did. "You don't have any other way to protect yourself either. I hate to say this, but…I think you'll just get in their way."

Hearing those last words from Yuffie, Kairi's eyes went back down on the ground in defeat. She still wanted to find Sora, but they were right, she had no way of defending herself. She hated how people would see her as this frail little girl that needed to be protected. She wanted to prove everyone that she could take care of herself, but what proof could she show if she had none? What could she do to rightfully express those feelings to everyone around her?

With nothing else to say, Kairi let out a sad sigh as she sat on the bed behind her.

Donald angrily nodded before turning around and heading out the door. Goofy, on the other hand, looked back Kairi with an apologetic look on his face before heading out with Donald.

Yuffie tried to give out a warm smile towards Kairi.

"Cheer up, Kairi. Sora said he'd come back to you, didn't he? Besides, I don't think he would lie to you like that." Yuffie said.

Aerith nodded in agreement.

"Neither do I, but…I just don't want Sora to get hurt." Kairi said.

Yuffie and Aerith shared a concerned look, while Kairi continued to look at the ground. Even thought she was just told to stay put, Kairi still wanted to find and help Sora. But how? She didn't have a weapon. She didn't have a Keyblade. If she went out there defenseless with those Heartless lurking around, she'd be finished in a matter of seconds. She thought back about Sora, how he would always follow his Heart. Kairi closed her eyes shut, as she wanted to follow in Sora's footsteps; she wanted to follow her Heart as well.

What was her Heart going to tell her now?

Kairi suddenly felt something; she felt something inside her Heart. She felt a sense of strength surging inside of herself. She quickly recognized this strength as her desire to protect those she cared about, the desire to protect her friends.

Suddenly, a group of small particles of light had gathered in Kairi's right hand. Assembling into a large line, a ray of light shined brightly in her hand. The three girls were then shocked to see what was in front of them.

"What?!" Yuffie startled.

A Keyblade; Kairi's Keyblade.

At first glance, this Keyblade looked almost completely harmless. The hilt around the handle was shaped like a heart, with one side formed into a shape of a breaking ocean wave. The other side resembled a vine of sand that wrapped around the shaft, which was colored to resemble a sunset. The vine connected to a bouquet of colorful flowers, which formed the teeth of the Keyblade. The keychain connected to the hilt was shaped like a Paopu Fruit.

"A Keyblade?!" Aerith said.

"But…how?" Yuffie wondered.

At the same time, Kairi looked at her Keyblade in awe and shock. She couldn't believe it either. She actually had a real Keyblade in her hand. Kairi raised the Keyblade up in front of herself. She suddenly thought back to Sora, now realizing what she had to do next.

Kairi stood up from the bed and ran to the door with the Keyblade in her hand. Yuffie and Aerith looked at her in surprise and confusion.

"Kairi, where are you going?!" Yuffie asked.

Kairi pulled the door open.

"I gotta go find Sora!" Kairi shouted before running out of the house.

"Kairi, wait!" Yuffie shouted.

"Just let her go." Aerith said calmly.

Yuffie quickly looked back at Aerith, who had formed a small smile on her face.

"Aerith?" Yuffie gave a quizzical look.

"She's just following her Heart."

* * *

Meanwhile, Sora had made his way to the Second District. He stood in the center of the lower area as he looked for a path that would lead him to Leon. Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Having fun playing Hero again?"

Sora quickly turned around to see the masked figure standing in front of the fountain near the entrance. He firmly gripped the Keyblade with his right hand as he glared at the figure.

"You!" Sora said.

The masked figure casually looked at his surroundings.

"This place sure brings back memories, doesn't it? Except that your other friends aren't here anymore, since they went back to their own world." The masked figure said. "It's impressive how the connections between your Heart and the Hearts of others can quickly influence a person's behavior. I don't think anyone else could pull that off. No one, but you, Sora. Amazing, don't you think?"

Sora suddenly received more painful flashbacks, showing a red-haired girl with a teddy bear and a long blonde-haired boy. He saw them, along with the orange-haired kid and the beanie girl, happily interacting with someone. He saw them laugh and smile in various images. The final image had shown the stranger with three of the kids standing in a circle, putting their hands together as a means of bonding.

Sora quickly shook off the vague images in his head and looked back at the figure. However, the figure was absent in in his line of sight, much to Sora's surprise. He quickly turned his head side to side, only to sense the masked figure's presence right behind him. Sora turned around and quickly jumped back from the masked figure, who just stood there like nothing happened.

"What do you want?!" Sora demanded.

Sora heard the masked figure letting out a dark chuckle.

"It's not what I want." He pointed at Sora. "It's what you want that matters. Do you know what that is? Do you know what you want?"

Sora gave a quizzical look. "What I want?" He looked down and thought to himself. "I…I want…"

After a brief moment of silence, the masked figure scoffed.

"Hmph. I guess not. Looks like you've forgotten everything after all. Talk about being worthless." The masked figure said.

Sora shot an angry look at the figure.

"What are you talking about?!" Sora shouted.

The masked figure scoffed at him again.

"As if I'd ever tell you, idiot. Why don't you go find the truth for yourself?" A dark portal had appeared and slowly engulfed the masked figure from behind. "I've heard it's more efficient that way."

Sora ran to the masked figure. "Wait!"

It was already too late. The masked figure disappeared before Sora could reach him. As he stopped in his footsteps, he suddenly thought to himself; he thought about that masked figure. What did he actually know about Sora? How much could he really know? There were many questions that entered Sora's head, but none of them could be answered yet. He couldn't grasp what was happening right now.

Suddenly, a voice called out.

"Sora!"

Hearing his name from behind, Sora turned around to see Kairi running up to him with a strange-looking object in her hand.

"Kairi?" Sora said.

As Kairi got closer to Sora, he got a better look at the object, which largely startled and surprised him.

"Is that…a Keyblade?!" Sora jumped a bit.

Kairi looked at her Keyblade as she raised it up in front of herself. Looking back at Sora, she quickly nodded.

"Yeah!" Kairi answered.

Sora was still surprised, but now confused by this sudden revelation. Guess he was right after all, about not being the "Chosen One".

"But…how did you even get a Keyblade?" Sora asked.

Widening her eyes, Kairi looked at her Keyblade, which she still had up in front of them.

"You know, I'm not sure." Kairi said innocently.

After a brief moment of Sora making a surprised and confused expression, Kairi and he started to chuckle and smiled at each other. Sora scratched the back of his head.

"Nothing's gonna make sense anymore, will it?" Sora asked.

Kairi shook her head.

"Probably not." She said. "So, now what?"

Sora placed his left hand on his hip as he thought for a moment.

"Hmm…well, I'm stilly trying to find Leon. I thought that he could tell me what I had to do next." Sora said.

Kairi smiled at him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find him!" Kairi said.

Looking back at Kairi, Sora smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah!" Sora said.

With their own Keyblades in their own hands, Sora and Kairi ran toward an alleyway that would lead them out of the Second District.

Sora and Kairi ran through the Third District, which consisted of a small plaza. This District was the smallest of the four main districts revealed to the two teens in Traverse Town. It was a small plaza with two small houses nearby. There was a flight of stairs that would lead to a lower area, where a distinct, golden fountain was sitting in the corner. The fountain depicted an image of two dogs together.

As Sora and Kairi were heading downstairs to the lower area, Goofy was suddenly looking over from a much higher balcony, still not noticing the two teens running underneath him. Donald and Goofy were still searching for the "Key", but they were unaware that the "Key" was right under their noses.

"Huh?" Goofy turned around to face the other end of the balcony.

A small group of Soldiers suddenly appeared behind Donald and Goofy. Goofy frightfully pulled out his circular shield and held it up in front of himself, while Donald hefted his magic hat-wearing staff over his shoulder.

"Gawrsh, are these the Heartless guys?" Goofy said with a scared tone.

Donald simply glared at the marching Heartless before swinging his staff to his side.

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!" Donald shouted.

Once Sora and Kairi reached to the center of the lower area, they heard a loud bashing noise behind them.

"WAAAKKK!"

"WAHAHAOHHH!"

They quickly turned around and looked up at the higher balcony, only to see a screaming pair of a duck and a dog being launched upward and falling to their location. Surprised by this, Sora quickly grabbed Kairi's empty right hand with his empty left hand and tried to sprint their way out of their direction. Unfortunately, they were too late as Donald and Goofy already landed on top of the two teens.

The four were lying on the ground, with Donald and Goofy on top of Sora and Kairi. After a moment of dizziness, they all shook their heads as Donald and Goofy's eyes landed on Sora's Keyblade.

"A Key!" Goofy shouted.

"Oh, a Key!" Donald shouted at the same time.

Sora grunted.

"Ugh…Kairi, you okay?" Sora looked at Kairi.

"…Yeah." Kairi said uncomfortably.

"Huh?" Donald and Goofy said.

Donald and Goofy looked over to Kairi, only to find another Keyblade held in her left hand. They shook their heads and widened their eyes as they gawked in shock.

"Another Key?!" Donald and Goofy said together.

Donald and Goofy quickly got off of Sora and Kairi, who then stood up with the royal assistants. Donald and Goofy gave them their own quizzical looks. Before they could say anything, the four felt a sudden vibration around them. Stone pillars rose up from the ground, completely blocking all entrances and trapping the four characters in the square room.

Donald quickly held his staff to his side, turning his head side to side.

"It's the Heartless!" Donald shouted.

Sora, Kairi, and Goofy got into positions. Sora got into a fighting stance where he held his Keyblade with two hands and to the side, while pointing the weapon away from him. Kairi held her Keyblade with two hands as well, but had it in front of her rather than to the side. Goofy simply held up a shield in front of himself, almost looking like he was cowering behind it.

As they stood in front of the golden fountain, a line of six Soldiers appeared in their sights. They landed on the ground and pranced around as they faced their targets.

Sora charged at two of the Soldiers, while Kairi did the same with two other Heartless. Goofy charged at the last two Soldier Heartless with his shield in front of him and with Donald following behind.

The first of the two Soldiers attempted a dropkick on Sora, but he quickly sidestepped the attack and knocked back the armored Heartless with a quick side swing of the Keyblade. He continued to sprint ahead as he charged towards the second Soldier. Sora quickly threw in three quick slashes and a powerful twirling finisher, bashing away the Heartless right before it evaporated.

Kairi defended herself against the two other Soldiers, which were swinging their claws against her Keyblade. As soon as one of them bounced back from the deflection, Kairi quickly went in and heavily swung the Keyblade at it, knocking it back before evaporating. Unfortunately, as soon as she attacked one of the Soldiers, the other one had a chance to attack her as it dashed straight at her.

"THUNDER!"

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck down on the dashing Heartless, electrocuting it as the shocking force of the bolt knocked it back. Kairi looked behind her to see Donald giving a quick thumbs-up…

"ACK!"

…until another of the Soldiers harshly kicked him back near to Goofy, who managed to bash away one of the Heartless foes. Kairi looked back to her own enemy and continued their battle.

The previous Soldier ran at Sora and thrust its claws at him. Sora quickly flipped over the charging Heartless and flung the Keyblade at it in midair. As the Soldier vanished, Sora landed and slid across the ground with the Keyblade reappearing in his right hand.

Looking back at the others, Kairi had managed to quickly step away from one of the Soldiers' attacks before throwing back a heavy strike, causing the Heartless to evaporate. Donald and Goofy were still dealing with their own foes, which seemed to be weakening from the two's attacks. Sora immediately dashed into their battle.

As soon as Goofy knocked back one of the Soldiers, Sora quickly stepped on top of the flying Heartless before launching himself into the air. While in midair, Sora forced himself down onto the other last Heartless with the Keyblade held over his head. He slammed down the Keyblade into the ground, slicing the Soldiers into nothingness.

Lifting the Keyblade up to his side, Sora stood in the center of the enclosed area as Kairi, Donald, and Goofy walked up to him.

Suddenly, they all looked up to see five large pieces of purple armor falling down from the sky. The large pieces bounced up in the air once hitting the ground.

While in the air, the armor pieces assembled itself as the large body pulled the arms and legs onto it. The torso armor was shaped like an hourglass with a strange heart-shaped emblem in the center. The arms were gauntlets with wide wrists and three segmented fingers. The legs were short and had large hammer-like feet colored black. As the armor landed on the ground, the head immediately fell down on top of the body, finishing the entire set. The head was spherical helmet sporting three silver spikes and a silver faceplate with several holes in it.

Goofy hid behind his shield.

"Gawrsh, is that the leader of the Heartless?" Goofy said frightfully.

"It probably is!" Donald answered.

The Guard Armor Heartless had its limbs twirling around as it faced Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy altogether. The Guard Armor made its first move, as it threw one of its fists into the ground where the four characters were standing on. They all jumped back from the fist, which pulled itself back to the Heartless.

Donald stepped back and started casting offensive spells onto the Heartless, while Sora charged ahead with the Keyblade in his hands. The Guard Armor threw both of its fists at Sora, but he quickly stepped on each flying fist as he headed straight toward the main body. Sora leaped into the air and struck the armored head, causing it to spin in fast circles.

As Sora landed and slid past the stunned Heartless, Kairi and Goofy went for its feet. However, Goofy jumped in front of Kairi with his shield in front of them, as the Guard Armor suddenly kicked each of its feet upward and slammed them onto the ground. The shockwaves from its stomps caused the two to be sent back to Donald's location.

Donald quickly summoned several lightning bolts to strike down on the Heartless, which quickly became stunned again by the electrocution.

Getting up and trying again, Kairi and Goofy went for the feet. They each swung their weapons against the lower limbs, bashing at the metal in small simple combos, which consisted of heavy strikes.

Meanwhile, Sora jumped in the air and quickly slashed the Guard Armor's right arm in quick combos. He quickly finished off the combo with a powerful downswing, obliterating one of its arms.

The Guard Armor's remaining left arm flew in and grabbed Sora in the air. Donald quickly casted a fireball onto the Heartless and damaged its armor. It pulled its arm back and tossed Sora straight at the duck, sending them down to the ground.

Kairi threw another heavy swing at its left leg, finally destroying another of the Guard Armor's floating limbs. With a left arm and a right leg remaining, the Heartless instantly launched itself into the air, armor pieces scrambling around. The four quickly scattered as the Heartless plummeted down. The Guard Armor impacted the ground and created a large shockwave around itself. Luckily, the four characters were safely out of its radius.

Sora quickly hopped onto one of the walls nearby, as he was about to utilize his Flowmotion abilities. He pushed himself off the wall and launched himself toward the armored body. Pointing the Keyblade forward, Sora quickly spun into a drill as he dove into the armor's torso.

The Heartless started to spin its left arm around its body to try and hit Sora. Quickly noticing this, Sora instantly twirled upward just as the arm had missed him. Sora pulled back his Keyblade right before slamming it back down into the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that destroyed the last leg of the Heartless.

The Guard Armor suddenly grew desperate, as it blindly threw its fist at Sora. However, its arm was quickly knocked back by a spinning shield, which returned to Goofy's hand. With the arm now dangling in the air, Donald quickly casted another fireball, which then destroyed the arm.

Before the Heartless torso could move any further, Sora quickly hopped back. He twirled his Keyblade in a circle before thrusting it forward, piercing through the last part of the Heartless. The Guard Armor Heartless spun around before it vibrated in an unstable manner, until its armored head fell off and crashed into the ground.

As the torso continued to float in midair, the four characters saw a bright light shining from inside the armor. Coming out from the top was a large glowing Heart, which twirled up to the air before vanishing from existence. Afterwards, a bright aura swirled around the remains of the Heartless, causing it to silently fade away into absolute nothingness.

Sora lowered his Keyblade as he looked back at Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. He quickly smiled at them just as they smiled back at him. As he walked up to them, Sora and Kairi suddenly noticed their Keyblades starting to vanish into thin air, indicating that the Heartless threat is finally gone.

The pillars that once trapped the four finally sunk back into the ground, letting in Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. A smirk formed on Leon's face.

"Hmph. Not bad for a kid." Leon muttered, referring to Sora.

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had looked at each other curiously. Suddenly, Donald and Goofy let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally, we found the 'Key'!" Donald shouted.

"Huh?" Sora pointed at himself confusedly. "Wait, you two were looking for me?"

"Uh-huh!" Donald and Goofy nodded excitedly.

Leon crossed his arms.

"They, too, have been searching for the Wielder of the Keyblade." Leon explained.

Goofy looked at Kairi with a surprised expression on his face.

"But gawrsh, we didn't expect you to be one too!" Goofy admitted.

Kairi smiled nervously.

"Well, actually, I got mine a while after Sora did." Kairi admitted.

Donald and Goofy widened their eyes in surprise, as they did not expect that kind of response. Goofy placed a hand under his chin as he took a moment to think.

"Hmm…" Goofy hummed curiously.

Donald simply dismissed this with a wave.

"Ah, we can just add you onto the list!" Donald suggested.

Goofy looked back at Donald with a happy face.

"Gee, that's a good point there, Donald!" Goofy agreed.

Sora and Kairi shared a curious glance after listening to the words of Donald Duck and Goofy. Goofy looked back at the two youngsters.

"Hey, why don't you two come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel." Goofy suggested.

Kairi looked down as she thought deeply about this. Of course, she wanted to explore many more worlds other than her own, but at the same time, she was still concerned about the status of her home. If the Heartless were currently in other worlds, then that might mean that they're still at Destiny Islands. But then again, she could be wrong…

"I wonder if everyone back at the Islands is still safe…?" Kairi said aloud.

Sora looked at Kairi worriedly.

"Of course they are!" Donald said confidently.

Sora and Kairi quickly looked at Donald both surprised and hopefully.

Suddenly, Donald and Goofy turned around and started whispering to each other.

"Are you sure?" Goofy asked silently.

"Who knows?" Donald whispered with an uncaring tone. "But we don't have time to check. We need them to come with us to help us find the King."

Just as Donald and Goofy finished conversing with each other, Leon started to speak out to Sora and Kairi.

"Sora. Kairi. Go with them. Especially if you want to keep everyone back your home safe." Leon advised.

Kairi looked at the ground again with a hesitant expression.

"Yeah, maybe." Kairi said.

Donald pointed his finger at Kairi while making a serious expression on his face.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?" Donald referred to Kairi's downed expression. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"

Donald said this with a warm, comforting smile. Sora actually liked what Donald was saying, since he was the type of person who would be willing to smile whenever it's possible.

Goofy's head reached down to Donald's height, showing his own smiling face.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" Goofy explained.

An agitated Donald pushed Goofy's face away from his own. He looked back at Sora and Kairi happily.

"This boat runs on happy faces!" Donald finished.

Sora crossed his arms with interest.

"Happy, huh?" Sora repeated the word.

Donald and Goofy nodded excitedly.

Sora gently nudged his elbow at Kairi's side, signaling her to smile like before. To help her do so, Sora showed Kairi his own warm smile. Comforted by Sora's happy face, Kairi looked back at Donald and Goofy right before giving a big smile to the royal assistants.

Donald and Goofy hummed curiously.

"Hmm…not a funny face," Donald admitted, "but it's still a happy one!"

Donald and Goofy looked at Sora.

"Your turn!" Goofy said.

Sora looked at Kairi before nodding his head to the royal assistants, signaling her to stand beside them to watch the master at work. As Kairi stood near Donald and Goofy, Sora bent his head downward. The three others quietly waited and watched Sora reveal his own happy face.

Sora pulled his head back up to reveal a large grin on his face. "EEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Kairi, Donald, and Goofy silently looked at Sora with wide eyes. Sora continued to grin like an idiot while sounding like one. A sense of awkwardness had entered the atmosphere, as Sora was about to give in.

"…EEEEEEEEEE…eh?" Sora's grin dropped down to a quizzical look. Did he fail to meet their requirements?

Suddenly, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy started to laugh their butts off just as Sora stopped grinning.

"That's one funny face!" Goofy shouted.

Kairi and Donald nodded in agreement while laughing at Sora due to his silly grin. Despite them laughing at his expense, Sora smiled at them. He truly was the master of happiness.

After the three finished the rest of their laughter, Sora and Kairi looked at Donald and Goofy happily.

"Okay, why not? We'll go with you guys." Sora said.

Donald extended his hand.

"Donald Duck."

Goofy placed his hand over Donald's.

"Name's Goofy."

Kairi placed her hand over Goofy's.

"I'm Kairi."

Sora smiled at them.

"I'm Sora."

Sora placed his hand on top of everyone else's.

"All for one, one for all!" Goofy shouted.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark, ominous room, a table sat in the center. There, it showed a green magical glyph, which displayed Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy conversing with one another. Several dark figures surrounded the table as they watched the four displayed characters interacting with each other.

"Those little squirts took down that Heartless…who'd have thought it?!" One figure shouted.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. Their strengths are not their own." Another stated.

"Why don't we turn them into a couple of Heartless? HAHA HAH! That'll settle things quick enough." A female figure said with a low voice.

"And those brats' friends are the King's lackeys! Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the looks of them!" Another figure said with a strange accent.

"You're no prize yourself! HAHAHAHA!" Another figure loudly remarked.

The sound of a blade being pulled out was heard.

"Shut up!" The previous figure shouted immaturely.

"ENOUGH."

The figures turned their attention to their leader, who appeared to be draped with a sinister-looking cloak. She appeared to be holding a staff with a green orb in her left hand.

"The Keyblade has chosen them. Will it be they who conquer the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow them?"

The leader had fully revealed herself in a dim light. Her skin was fair and green. She had shining yellow eyes and red lips. She had a black-horned headdress and her cloak turned out to be a long, tattered black robe with a purple trim and maroon flare edges. Her nails were long just like those of a nasty witch.

"Either way, they could be quite useful." She had dark smile as her eyes were pointed directly at Kairi. "Especially _her_."

* * *

 **Traverse Town is done. Next world is Wonderland. And the one after that is probably Olympus Coliseum since I might need to make an opportunity where Kairi needs to learn more about fighting.**

 **Welp, I'll see you next time.**


	8. Objection!

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

 **Yes, I know. Too soon to add another chapter. But I have fun writing and planning stuff, so it can't be helped.**

 **Besides, I'm not just doing it for myself. I'm doing it for you guys too. I want to share a few of my most personal yet self-annoying thoughts on Kingdom Hearts with you all. Of course, you may find them familiar, once I unravel them to you in the future.**

 **Anyways, leave a review if you wish and enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Objection!

"Is that so?"

Standing in a large, white room was a cloaked figure, which was currently conversing with the masked figure.

He wore a full-length black coat with a hood over his head, hiding his entire face. A large silver zipper fastened at the top and zipped down three-fourths of the coat. There were silver drawstrings for the hood decorated with a large silver bead hanging from the end, along with a silver chain ornament adorned with silver beads. He was slightly taller than the masked figure.

The masked figure stood there, nonchalantly staring back at the other faceless character.

"It ain't a lie, I can tell you that." The masked figure scoffed. "I don't get how he does it. The last thing I would expect is for that loser to come back."

The cloaked figure gestured his hand as a means of expressing uncertainty. "Perhaps it is from the sheer strength of his Heart. He simply follows it, wherever it may lead him, as it connects itself to the Hearts of others."

The masked figure scoffed again. "What an idiot. He's only making himself an easy target. Sooner or later, somebody's gonna break that loser in."

"Indeed." The cloaked figure nodded. "And you also mentioned that he had lost _all_ of his memories after his return. Are you completely certain about that?"

"He hardly remembers me anymore. He didn't even recognize the world he arrived at. If that isn't proof enough to you, then I don't know what is. You're better off going and seeing it for yourself." The masked figure said.

"Perhaps I will."

The cloaked figure moved forward, walking past the masked figure that stood to the side. After being a few feet away from the masked figure, the cloaked figure stopped and turned his head to the former.

"You say that he has no recollection of his past, that he truly lost his full power with the Keyblade, and yet you had the perfect chance to strike him down, then and there. Why didn't you take it?" The cloaked figure asked.

The masked figure neither moved from his spot nor did he turn his head towards the cloaked figure. However, he soon spoke again.

"…Does it matter why?"

After scoffing at the masked figure's response, a dark portal opened up in the cloaked figure's path, allowing him to walk inside before it closed itself.

* * *

Back at Traverse Town, Sora and Kairi were just finishing up their conversation with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith before departing with Donald and Goofy. Leon looked at the two teens with a serious expression as usual.

"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up." Leon finished.

"Got it." Sora and Kairi nodded.

Aerith and Yuffie smiled at them.

"Good luck!" Yuffie said.

After that, the three left Sora and Kairi alone with Donald and Goofy, both of who smiled at the teens.

"You two ready?" Donald asked happily.

Sora and Kairi smiled as they nodded their heads.

"Always!" Sora answered.

Donald nodded back.

"The Gummi Ship is just outside that gate."

Donald pointed his thumb at the large double doors, which happened to be the entrance to the Traverse Town, standing behind him and Goofy. Sora and Kairi looked at him with quizzical looks.

"Huh?" Sora said.

"The what?" Kairi said simultaneously.

Goofy smiled at them excitedly.

"Wait 'till you see it!" Goofy said.

* * *

"Whoa!"

Sora and Kairi looked at the Gummi Ship in awe and shock. They had never seen a ship like this before in their entire lives. It was shaped like a large rocket, with the cockpit being a large red cube with a glass dome on top, which was where the controls were. Attached to the front was a red triangular prism with a large yellow horizontal stripe around its center. It had a pair of wings that were shaped like smaller rockets attached to both sides of the ship. There were two small rocket engines in the back of the ship.

"This is your ship?!" Sora's eyes never left the vessel.

Donald turned his head at Sora and Kairi, letting a confident smirk run across his beak.

"Impressed?"

Sora and Kairi nodded their heads enthusiastically as they continued to stare at the Gummi Ship. The cockpit opened up as Donald and Goofy headed inside the ship. Goofy looked back at Sora and Kairi.

"What're ya waitin' for, guys? Come on in!" Goofy said.

Immediately listening to Goofy's words, Sora and Kairi joined them as they entered the Gummi Ship and sat on the seats of its cockpit. After pressing a few buttons and pulling the lever, the ship's engines began to ignite as it slowly floated upward. Once it was in midair, the Gummi Ship directed itself to the starry night sky.

Donald quickly pointed his finger forward.

"BLAST OFF!" Donald shouted.

In only a few seconds, the ship blasted full throttle into the sky, instantly blinking out of sight. Soon after, the Gummi Ship arrived in a deep sea of space, filled with numerous kinds of shining stars. Sora and Kairi looked at the amazing view with awe.

"It's so beautiful…!" Kairi said.

Sora instantly nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again!"

Sora and Kairi quickly turned their attention to what appeared to be a cricket standing on the dashboard of the cockpit. They jumped a bit as they looked at the small fellow, who calmly waved at them.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

The cricket bowed his head before pulling it back up.

"Cricket's the name! Jiminy Cricket! And I'll be keeping track of all your adventures in my journal!" Jiminy showed Sora and Kairi his small journal.

Sora and Kairi smiled at Jiminy. They were happy to befriend another kind character such as him.

The ship was already flying across the large area while the two were currently stargazing. After another minute of peaceful flying, the four finally arrived at another world.

"We're here!" Donald shouted.

Sora and Kairi looked at Donald, and then they looked at the world in front of them. The body of the world appeared to be shaped like a sphere. It was patterned with red and pink tiles that had a heart centered in each one of them. On top was a heart-shaped hedge with a castle standing behind it. On the bottom was a small simple house with a chimney on top.

"Wonderland!" Donald shouted enthusiastically. "Let's get going!"

* * *

Suddenly, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy found themselves falling down through a large, deep hole, albeit slowly. Technically, they were floating downward with no logical explanation behind it. As they continued to head their way down, the area slowly brightened. They soon saw distorted images of clocks and picture frames plastered to the wall.

Because it was taking a while long for them to hit the ground, Goofy thought it was a good time to rest, as he crossed his legs and placed his hands behind his head while closing his eyes.

Soon, they neared to the circular floor, which had two-dimensional images of furniture plastered to the distorted tile floor. The walls were made of bricks and had clocks and picture frames hanging onto them.

While Sora, Kairi, and Donald landed safely on their feet, Goofy quickly turned around and fell flat on his face. Sora and Kairi winced at Goofy's unfortunate pain, while Donald shook his head in irritation.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

As Goofy pulled his head from the floor, a small white rabbit ran across the room and past the four characters.

The White Rabbit had a large red nose and short ears, along with a pair of spectacles over his eyes. He wore a red overcoat and a bowtie with an orange button-up shirt underneath. He also wore gray pants with a hole in the back for his bushy tail.

He quickly looked at the large golden pocket watch in his left hand while panicking.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!" The White Rabbit shouted.

Goofy stood back up as he and the other three curiously watched the White Rabbit run away.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

The White Rabbit quickly scrambled into the hall ahead until he was out of the four characters' sights. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy exchanged curious looks.

"The Queen?" Sora echoed with curiosity.

Goofy looked back at the hall the rabbit went through.

"Maybe we ought to follow him." Goofy suggested.

Nodding in agreement, the four walked through the distorted hall until they reached to the end, where a large wooden door stood in front of them.

Sora pulled the door open, but they were surprised to see a second yet smaller door in front of them. Kairi stepped forward and pulled the second door open, only to reveal a third smaller door. Sora opened the third door, which revealed a fourth, much smaller door. Kairi pulled opened the fourth door, to finally reveal a small path to the next room.

Sora went down and crawled through the door. Kairi, Donald, and Goofy followed behind him. They soon entered a large, pinkish-purple room. Everything looked so spacey and empty. The ceiling seemed to be high up because they couldn't see the ceiling at all from the ground.

Sora stood up and looked around the mostly spacey room, searching for the White Rabbit while Kairi crawled into the room before standing back up. She then stared at the bizarre room around her with awe and confusion. There were already things that just didn't seem to…connect in this world. Donald and Goofy entered the room right after.

To the four's surprise, they spotted the same white rabbit, who had somehow shrunk down as he ran towards a tiny, opened door. Walking through it, the door closed itself, revealing a giant golden doorknob. Its shape resembled a sleeping head.

Kairi and Sora kneeled down. Donald and Goofy sat down with them. They curiously studied the door the White Rabbit had just run past through. Kairi reached for the knob.

"How did he get so small…?" Kairi asked aloud.

Just as Kairi grabbed the golden sphere and twisted it, the door came to life as the golden doorknob quickly pulled its knob back in a startled manner.

"D'OOOOH!"

"AH!" Sora and Kairi yelped.

Sora and Kairi pulled back as they gaped at the living Doorknob in shock. Donald and Goofy jumped back in a startled manner. Quickly shaking off the shock, Sora and Kairi calmly looked at the Doorknob, who was trying to recover from the twisting pain.

"S-sorry!" Kairi said.

The Doorknob quickly scrunched his face before sighing and looking back at the four characters.

"Whew. Quite all right," the Doorknob smiled at them, "but you did give me quite a turn."

Sora nodded as the Doorknob smiled.

"Right. See, we were trying—"

"Rather good, what? _Doorknob_? _Turn_?" The Doorknob asked cheerfully.

Donald shot an angry, impatient look at the Doorknob.

"Look! We're looking for—!"

Donald was cut off from his own sentence, as the Doorknob talked and laughed joyfully from his own pun joke. Sora and Kairi sighed as they waited for him to finish.

The Doorknob sighed happily.

"Well, since one good turn deserves another…" the Doorknob's expression fell tiredly, "…what can I do for you four strangers?"

Sora spoke first.

"Well…we were kind of hoping that you'd let us through." Sora said. "We're looking for a White Rabbit."

The Doorknob raised an eyebrow.

"A White Rabbit, you say? What a coincidence, there was a White Rabbit who just went by here! Could it be this one here?"

The Doorknob opened his mouth wide enough for Kairi to lean over and look through. She spotted the White Rabbit running away.

"Yeah! That's him!" Kairi said.

Sora looked away from Kairi and back at the Doorknob.

"Do you think you can let us in?" Sora asked.

The Doorknob shook his head.

"Sorry. You're all much too big. Simply impassible."

"You mean 'impossible'?" Kairi said.

The Doorknob shook his head again.

"No, impassible! Nothing's _impossible_!" The Doorknob chuckled.

Sora and Kairi raised an eyebrow at him. The Doorknob continued to speak.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I really would like to be getting back to my nap." The Doorknob said.

Sora and Kairi widened their eyes in desperation.

"Wait!" Kairi called out. She moved closer to keep him awake. "Do you know how can we get smaller?"

The Doorknob moved his eyes upward in thought. It then looked back at Sora and Kairi.

"Well, why don't you try the bottle on the table?" The Doorknob suggested.

His eyes were pointing at an empty hallway. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy turned around and looked at that direction in curiosity.

"What bottle?" Sora asked.

Suddenly, a small, three-legged table flew in and landed on the ground. A small bottled also flew in and placed itself on top of the table. The four widened their eyes in surprise.

"Gee, ain't that convenient? Ahyuk!" Goofy smiled.

Standing up, Sora and Kairi walked over to the table, with Donald and Goofy curiously following behind them. Sora held the bottle in his right hand, while his left hand grabbed a slip of paper tied to it.

" _Drink Me_." Sora read out loud.

Sora and Kairi shared a curious glance, while Donald and Goofy shared their own with each other. Believing that he had nothing to lose, Sora took a small sip of the bottle's contents. He calmly took it out of his mouth before looking at the bottle curiously.

Kairi, Donald, and Goofy noticed that the drink didn't have an affect on Sora.

"Nothing's happening." Donald said.

"How's it taste, Sora?" Goofy asked.

Sora licked his lips.

"Tastes…kind of weird." Sora handed the bottle to Kairi. "Here, try it."

Doing as he said, Kairi took a small sip from the bottle and quickly licked her lips. She looked up in thought as she felt her taste buds. Sora looked at her, waiting for a response.

"Yeah, it does taste weird. Almost like it's mixed with…cherry tart?" Kairi said with a questioning tone.

"And custard?" Sora added.

"And pineapple?"

"Maybe roast turkey?"

Unbeknownst to the both of them, however, they were shrinking down as they talked about the flavored contents of the strange bottle. Kairi's hands were becoming smaller, causing her to lose grip of the now large bottle.

"Whoa!" Kairi shouted.

Kairi was holding the bottle in her arms while stumbling across the room. Now startled and aware of their current size, Sora ran over to Kairi and held the bottle with her. They quickly fell down to the ground just as the bottle tumbled over, away from Sora and Kairi's locations. Donald and Goofy looked at them in shock.

"What?!" Donald shouted.

The Doorknob laughed at Sora and Kairi.

"You two almost went out like a pair of candles!" The Doorknob chuckled.

After getting up from the ground, Sora and Kairi ran to the Doorknob excitedly, while Donald and Goofy shrunk down after drinking from the bottle.

"But we're small now!" Kairi said.

"So can you let us in?" Sora asked.

Just as Sora and Kairi started to reach their hands out to the nose of the Doorknob, he quickly pulled it away from them.

"Oh! No use. I forgot to tell you. I'm locked!" The Doorknob then laughed.

Sora and Kairi, however, sighed in disappointment. The Doorknob looked at them.

"But of course, you've got the key, so—"

Sora and Kairi gave the Doorknob a quizzical look.

"Key?" Sora and Kairi asked.

The Doorknob looked at them in shock.

"Now, don't tell me you've left it up there?"

His eyes were pointed directly at the bottom surface of the table. The two teens looked up to see large golden key instantly popping up out of nowhere. Sora and Kairi gaped at the height difference between them and the key.

Suddenly, they realized something.

"Couldn't we just use one of our Keyblades?" Sora asked.

Sora's Keyblade, Kingdom Key materialized in his right hand. He pointed it at the Doorknob, who shook his head.

"Oh no. Sorry. I don't do well with foreign keys. I just don't think they'll work well in my mouth." The Doorknob said before closing his mouth shut.

Before Sora could let out a disappointed grunt. Goofy called out to him and Kairi.

"Sora! Kairi!"

Sora and Kairi turned their heads to Donald and Goofy, who were standing next to a small open hole.

"We can probably get in through this hole!" Goofy shouted.

Sora and Kairi heard the Doorknob laughing again. They looked at him.

"Oh right! I forgot about that little detail. Oops!" The Doorknob chuckled.

"Come on!" Donald shouted.

Sora and Kairi went over to Donald and Goofy. They started walking through the dark, ominous hole. It wasn't as large or as spacey as the room they were previously in. As they continued to walk further, a small light appeared at the end of the hole's tunnel.

Stepping out of the tunnel and into the light, they found themselves in a courtyard filled with green hedges shaped into mostly hearts. There was a large hedged entrance outlined into a heart. As for what was on the other side of the entrance, there was an army of playing cards about their size.

The two card soldiers guarding the entrance quickly raised their weapons up high, now allowing anyone to enter through. Ahead of them were pairs of card soldiers vertically lined up. They marched to their own sides to reveal a makeshift court, where a small girl was being tried by a portly woman.

The girl had blue eyes and long, thick blond hair tied to a black bow. She wore a blue dress with a white pinafore, along with white tights and black shoes.

The woman was wearing a gown colored red and black. The left half of her dress had a short black sleeve with a red cuff and a red abdomen, and everything below was colored black. The right was identical, but with inverted colors. She also wore a second dress wit a similar split design. The left side had an alternating thick black line, thin yellow line pattern; the other half was identical yet inverted as well. She had black hair that was tied to a bun on the back of her head with a red ribbon, though a few loose bangs dangled in front of her forehead. She had a round nose, gold earrings, and a small golden crown on her head. She also carried a small wand with a red heart on the tip.

The girl stood before a tall platform, where the large woman sat in its throne. The White Rabbit suddenly appeared from the left side of the hedge, running up a staircase to a tower standing near the large platform. On his way, he held up a golden horn to his mouth and blew out a loud tune. Reaching up to the top of the tower, he placed down the horn while holding a rolled up paper in his left hand.

"Court is now in session!" The White Rabbit shouted.

The girl looked at the White Rabbit curiously and innocently.

"I'm on trial? But why?" The girl asked.

The White Rabbit gestured his left hand to the large woman.

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" The White Rabbit addressed before respectfully bowing.

He gestured his arm to the group of strange-looking individuals to the right side of the hedge.

"Members of the Jury!" The jury bowed. The White Rabbit continued to speak after opening the rolled paper.

"The prison at the bar stands accused of committing a horrid crime, thereby and with malice of forethought, tormenting, and otherwise annoying our beloved…"

"NEVER MIND ALL THAT!" The Queen shouted. "Get to the part where I lose my temper." She said with a happier and more cheerful tone.

The White Rabbit stammered as he nervously scrolled through the paper.

"T-t-t-t-thereby causing the Queen to loser her temper." The White Rabbit finished.

The Queen of Hearts then glared at the little girl from her high throne. She stood up as she started to speak.

"This girl is the culprit! There's no doubt about it!" The Queen of Hearts said. "And the reason why…"

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy stood by and awaited the Queen's reason, just as the little girl did.

"…because I say so, that's why!"

The five were baffled with whatever words the Queen of Hearts shouted from her big mouth. Already, the four of them could not believe just how ridiculous this trial truly was. The girl then shouted back at the Queen of Hearts.

"That is so unfair!" The girl expressed.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" The Queen mockingly waved her little wand at the girl.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" The girl said as she crossed her arms. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"

The White Rabbit quickly looked back and forth between the girl and Her Majesty. He couldn't believe his ears with what the girl was saying to the Queen. The Queen of Hearts only fumed in anger while listening to the girl's words, right before erupting in rage.

"SILENCE!"

The Queen's loud voice echoed through the whole courtyard while causing a sudden gust of wind, startling the little girl. She slammed her fists onto the wooden counter in front of her.

"You dare defy me?!" The Queen of Hearts yelled.

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were currently listening to the whole thing in the back.

"We have to help her." Sora whispered to the other three, trying not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves.

Kairi looked at Sora worriedly. She wanted to help the girl too, but there was also the situation with the World Order. Kairi didn't want to break any rules either. She was at a loss.

"Yeah…but the—" Donald began.

"We're outsiders," Goofy said, "so wouldn't that be muddling?"

"Meddling!" Donald whispered angrily.

"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

Sora tilted his head in confusion as they continued to listen to the verdict.

"The court finds the defendant guilty as charged!" The Queen of Hearts shouted.

The little girl briefly gasped before covering her mouth with her hand.

"For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart…"

Sora's head perked up. Attempted theft of her heart. Could it have been a Heartless that was trying to steal the Queen's Heart? Besides, the girl seemed incapable of committing such a cruel action. She seemed too…innocent. Pure. Almost like Kairi…

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!" The Queen shouted while pointing at the girl.

Sora's attention now returned to the trial, as he and his friends looked on in shock. The card soldiers turned towards the girl with their weapons hefted up in their hands. They marched their way to the little girl, who was now pleading for mercy.

"No! No! Oh, please!" The girl begged.

"Hold it right there!"

Everyone had turned their attention to the back of the court. Sora quickly walked up to the Queen, with the other three characters walking beside him. A serious expression was on Sora's face, just as there was an infuriated one on the Queen's.

"Who are you?!" The Queen demanded. "How dare you interfere with my court!"

"But we know who the real culprit is!" Sora claimed.

Kairi and Goofy nodded in agreement. Donald begrudgingly watched everything unfold.

"Uh-huh! It's the Heartle—!"

Donald's hand quickly muffled Goofy's mouth. Sora looked back at the Queen.

"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for." Sora pointed at the girl.

"That's nonsense." The Queen raised an eyebrow. "Have you any proof?"

Sora flinched, before Kairi and he shared a quick glance. They looked back at the Queen hesitantly.

"Uh…" Sora stuttered.

In an instant, the girl was thrown into a cage by one of the card soldiers. The door was closed shut and locked, trapping the girl inside. The Queen looked down at Sora and Kairi.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" She referred to the tried girl. "Fail, and it's off with ALL of your heads!"

Afterwards, Donald shot an angry look at Sora.

"Sora! What've you gotten us into?!" Donald yelled.

Sora's eyes were on the ground as he looked for an answer.

"I…I don't know." Sora admitted. "Something inside me just said that we had to help her out. So I went with it"

Goofy smiled at the teenager. "Gee, Sora, that's real thoughtful of ya!"

Kairi happily nodded in agreement. Donald, however, rolled his eyes in annoyance. He was starting to have a hard time believing that Sora, and Kairi to an extent, were the Chosen Ones that they were tasked to follow and assist.

"So now what?" Donald asked irritably. "We need proof that Alice isn't the thief!"

"Oh, yeah!" Goofy quickly nodded in agreement. "Or else she'll have our heads too for sure!" Goofy said in a frightened tone, while massaging his neck.

"Well, we need to start somewhere." Sora looked at Alice, who was still inside the cage. "We should probably go talk to Alice. Maybe she can point us to the right direction."

The other three nodded in agreement and followed Sora. They walked up to Alice, who quickly noticed the four coming her way. She gave them a questioning look.

"Who are you?" Alice asked innocently.

Sora and Kairi gave Alice a kind smile. Sora spoke first.

"I'm Sora. And that's Kairi, Donald, and Goofy." Sora gestured his hand to the three others in the respective order.

Kairi, Donald, and Goofy waved at Alice, who then smiled at them.

"Pleased to meet you, though I do wish it were under better circumstances." Alice said. "I'm sorry you got mixed up in this nonsense."

Kairi shook her head before smiling at her again. "Don't worry about it. It's fine."

Alice gave them a quizzical look. "So, do you really know who actually tried to steal the Queen's heart?"

Sora scratched his nose while the others remained silent.

"Yeah, something like that." Sora said. "It's just we don't know where to find the evidence to prove that."

"Hmm…" Alice hummed in thought, "well perhaps there's that Cheshire Cat. He's an odd fellow. Maybe he knows who tried to steal the Queen's heart."

Sora and Kairi shared a curious glance before looking back at Alice.

"Do you know where he is?" Kairi asked.

"Last I met him, he was in the forest." Alice answered.

Sora smiled at his three other friends.

"Great! We'll start there!" Sora looked at Alice with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Alice. We'll get you out in no time!"

Alice nodded as a means of offering her gratitude, before Sora's group headed to the deep forest.

* * *

"Why'd you go do that?!" Donald shouted at Sora while wandering through the woods. "You know you can't be involved! You know WE can't be involved! Now we have to go look for evidence instead of the King!"

Kairi looked at Donald in annoyance.

"Don't so hard on Sora, Donald!" Kairi said. "I would've done it too."

"That's worse!" Donald shouted again.

Sora also looked at Donald annoyingly.

"Come on, Donald! Wouldn't you think the King would be willing to help Alice?" Sora questioned.

Donald's beak froze open as no words came out of it. He quickly closed it shut while making an irritated face. He couldn't believe that he just got humiliated by a couple of kids.

As they travelled deeper into the woods, they soon found themselves surrounded by large trees of various colors, with small signs pointing at every direction. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were completely confused as to which way to go from here.

"Uh…" Donald spoke out.

"Which way is which?" Goofy wondered.

Suddenly, before Sora or Kairi could say anything, a voice was heard singing.

"~'Twas a brilig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: / All mimsy were the borogroves, / And the mome raths outgrabe~."

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy looked around and searched for the source of the voice. However, the voice's echoes that bounced from every direction made it difficult to pinpoint on the mysterious person.

"Where's that coming from?" Kairi asked aloud.

"Lose something?" The voice called.

The four quickly turned their heads to the location of the voice. On top of a tree branch was a head of a purple cat; a wide grin ran across the head's face.

"Or perhaps, _looking_ for something?" The cat's head asked.

They widened their eyes as they saw the cat's body appearing on top of his head, as if it were trying to balance itself on top. Afterwards, the cat's body hopped off its head and tossed it up on top of itself.

"Are you that cat Alice mentioned?" Goofy asked.

" _Cheshire_ Cat." Cheshire Cat corrected. "And poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

Sora's eyes were kept wide open as he heard the cat speak.

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, then tell us!" Sora said.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy gave the Cheshire Cat quizzical looks.

"Huh?" Sora spoke.

The Cheshire Cat vanished. The four characters soon began to have a hard time processing the Cheshire Cat's cryptic sentence.

"Gawrsh, whaddya think he meant by that?" Goofy asked.

Sora and Kairi's eyes furrowed, while Donald tapped his foot impatiently. The only thing Donald wanted to do was to find the King.

"I don't know." Sora looked at Kairi. "Got any ideas?"

Kairi shook her head unfortunately. "Nothing."

"Hmm…" Sora looked up in deep thought as he tried to decrypt the meaning behind the Cat's sentence.

However, Goofy spoke out, bringing Sora out of his thoughts.

"Hey, how 'bout we split up? It'd be a lot faster since the evidence could be anywhere." Goofy suggested.

Sora and Kairi exchanged looks. Goofy had a good point. It would be more efficient to separate and search each portion of the area for possible evidence. They looked back at Goofy with confident smiles.

"Sure, why not?" Sora said. "Let's meet up here, or at least at the court, and see what we've gathered."

With the three nodding in agreement, the four walked into four different directions. As they travelled into different parts of the bizarre wilderness, a cloaked figure stood from afar.

The cloaked figure suddenly had his sights on Sora.

* * *

 **Anyone wanna take a guess on who that cloaked figure is? Anyone? I'm just curious.**

 **Looks like the gang are gonna be busy trying to prove Alice's innocence. Ah well.**

 **Welp, that's all for now. I'll see you guys next time.**


	9. Wanna See a Trick?

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

* * *

Chapter 9: Wanna See a Trick?

After unexpectedly running into each other, Donald and Goofy started wandering through the forest together, looking for some sort of evidence to prove Alice's innocence. This, however, immediately proved to be quite a difficult mission to them. How, in this bizarre world, could they be able to find any form of evidence? Most importantly, to Donald, why were they wasting their time protecting a girl they didn't even know about? All of these unanswered questions already started to infuriate the white duck.

Donald had let out a heavy sigh, expressing his frustration. Goofy, on the other hand, was still looking around to spot anything that could prove useful in identifying the Heartless culprit.

"Gawrsh, do you think we'll find anything to prove that Alice isn't guilty?" Goofy asked.

Donald shook his head annoyingly. "Aw, who knows?"

Donald and Goofy walked past a mysterious bush with a pair of small, strange flags sticking out. They slowly rose from behind the bush. Under the small flags was a pair of red hats, currently being worn by two portly gentlemen behind the bush. They inconspicuously stared at the two royal assistants, who were looking away from their hiding position.

Goofy walked to the right side of a large tree. When he poked his head around to the back of the tree, the two men quietly danced to the side in synchronization, while hiding in the shadows.

"Heartless! Where are ya?!" Goofy shouted behind the tree.

Goofy pulled his head back and turned his head away from the tree, just as the two men showed up behind the now-turned royal knight. He walked towards one of the bushes near the left side of the tree.

While Goofy looked through the bushes, Donald had set his eyes on a large wooden log that lied on the grassy floor. The two portly men now had their eyes on the duck. Donald hummed in suspicion before walking towards the log. Meanwhile, the two identical men quietly followed him from behind.

"Maybe the Heartless left something here?" Donald muttered to himself.

Donald knelt down and crawled inside the log. The big twins quickly gave each other curious looks before looking back Donald. They quickly hopped on top of the log and moved to the other end in a synchronized motion.

They jumped down to the ground and positioned themselves right front of the other side of the log, blocking most of the entrance. However, Donald managed to crawl out with ease, as he moved underneath the twins' round stomachs. At the same time, however, he was incapable of noticing the large twins standing between him.

After crawling a few inches ahead of the twins, Donald stood up and dusted his shirt off from the dirt. After removing any specs of dirt left, he started to turn around.

"Nope. No Heartless in there…WAAK!" Donald quacked in surprise.

Goofy quickly turned around in surprise as well.

"Huh?" Goofy saw a pair of identical, portly men. "Whoa!"

Goofy rushed to Donald's side as the duck looked at them in irritation. Getting a clear sight, they noticed that they wore yellow shirts and red pants in identical forms, along with a pair of blue bowties. They wore red caps with a flag sticking on top of each of them.

"Who are you?!" Donald asked loudly.

Goofy suddenly noticed some words on their shirts. He moved closer to them while squinting his eyes.

"Hmm…let's see here…" Goofy's eyes landed on the right twin's shirt. "Tweedle Dee…" he moved his eyes to the left twin's shirt, "Tweedle Dum?"

Goofy's finger poked the left twin's chest, causing the latter to unexpectedly honk. Donald and Goofy raised their eyebrows in surprise, as the twins looked at them.

"If you think we're waxworks like that other one did, you ought to pay you know." Tweedle Dum said.

The left twin quickly elbowed and honked Tweedle Dee.

Goofy scratched the back of his head. "Gawrsh, sorry 'bout that!" He apologized.

Tweedle Dee started to speak. "Contrariwise, if you think we're alive, you ought to speak to us."

Tweedle Dee then elbowed back Tweedle Dum, causing him to honk as well. They soon hopped on top of the log while dancing and honking in a musical tune. By defying bodily physics, they bumped and bounced into each other's large stomachs and round rumps.

After finishing their dancing, they jumped back down and smiled at Donald and Goofy. Donald crossed his arms with impatience, while Goofy praised their performance with clapping.

"That's logic!" The twins said.

Not taking anymore of this, Donald turned around and walked away while dismissing the twins with a wave.

"Aw phooey." Donald denied. "I'm leaving!"

However, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum hurriedly ran in front of a now-startled Donald. They raised their hands in front of Donald, signaling the duck to stop walking.

"Oh, you can't go yet!" Tweedle Dee said.

"Huh?" Goofy looked at them curiously.

"No, the visit had just started!" Tweedle Dum added.

Donald attempted to move past the twin brothers, who constantly danced in his way. The duck quickly moved side to side, but the brothers were always one step ahead. Donald grew more frustrated as they stood in front of him.

Suddenly, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum zipped to the side and vanished from Donald and Goofy's eyes.

"Huh?" Donald and Goofy spoke.

They quickly turned their attention to the trees to the right, where multiple versions of the twins popped out from behind the trees and bushes.

"Would you like to play hide and seek?" One of the twins asked excitedly.

They vanished again. The twins then reappeared when bumping right into each other. They raised their hands up, one by one.

"Or Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" The twins asked simultaneously.

Donald sighed annoyingly while Goofy curiously scratched the back of his head. They could tell that they weren't going to be able to get out of this one anytime soon.

* * *

Sora was walking through a different section of the forest. He carefully looked at his surroundings to find anything peculiar. So far, he found nothing significant. Sora stopped as he found a tall field of colorful flowers standing before him. He thought to himself about whether if he should head in or not.

Suddenly, he heard a dark, menacing voice.

"So it _is_ you."

The sound of this voice unexpectedly made Sora's skin crawl, as he quickly turned around to see a cloaked man standing in front of him. The cloaked man silently stared at the young Keyblader with interest.

"Huh?" Sora spoke out.

The cloaked man pulled off his hood, revealing a tanned, youthful face. He had silver hair that both spiked and fell past his shoulders in the back. There were two bangs hanging on each side of his face. Most of his hair was slicked back into large spikes.

Sora had felt the man's golden eyes piercing through him as he smirked at the Keyblader's presence.

"Perhaps luck truly _is_ at your side, Sora." The man spoke.

Hearing the man say his name, Sora widened his eyes. Nonetheless, the man continued to speak in a calm tone.

"Tell me," he said, "how much does that will of yours still linger inside? What is it that you came back for? Can you not already see just how much you've already lost?"

Sora grew frustrated yet confused by the man's cryptic sentences. He glared at the silver-haired man.

"What are you talking about?! Just who are you?!" Sora demanded.

The man only stood still, moving his eyes vertically across Sora. After reading Sora's expressions and analyzing his behavior, he finally received confirmation of his ally's claims.

The man closed his eyes and spoke once more.

"…What Vanitas had said was true…" he opened his eyes, "…you really have forgotten everything, haven't you…?" he muttered quietly.

Sora managed to hear the first part of the man's sentence. Something about a person named "Vanitas".

Sora made a quizzical look.

"Vanitas?" he quickly widened his eyes in realization. "The guy in the mask?! You know him?!"

The man only looked up at Sora and scoffed at him.

"Hmph. I don't need to explain myself to you. Besides, you don't remember anything, am I wrong?"

Suddenly, a portal of swirling darkness opened up behind the silver-haired man. He soon stepped back into the portal, but not without saying a few last words.

"It is for the best, to let go of the past." The man finished.

Sora reached his hand out to the mysterious man. He was becoming more desperate to figure out what was going on.

"Wait!" Sora shouted.

It was too late. The man entered the darkness and the portal soon vanished into thin air.

Sora lowered his arm and stared at the ground. Already, there were plenty of thoughts going through his mind. The words of the two mysterious individuals ringed through his head.

 _It's what you want that matters. Do you know what that is? Do you know what you want?_ Vanitas's voice echoed.

 _Can you not already see just how much you've already lost?_ The silver-haired man's voice echoed.

Sora looked at the open palm of his hand.

'Who…am I…?'

"Sora!"

Sora instantly snapped back to the real world as he turned around to see Kairi running out of the forest.

"Kairi...!" Sora said.

Kairi caught her breath for a brief moment and then looked at Sora curiously. She quickly noticed the expression his face was making.

"Hey, you okay?" Kairi asked somewhat worriedly. "You seem kinda tense."

Sora blinked twice while looking at Kairi.

"Oh, uh, yeah! It's nothing serious." Sora quickly gave a smile. "So, did you find anything yet?"

Kairi shook her head disappointingly before looking back at Sora.

"You?" She said with a hopeful tone.

Unfortunately, Sora had given her the same answer that she just gave. Sora then turned his attention to the tall flowery field standing next to them.

"There might be something inside there." Sora pointed to the field of flowers. "Maybe we should go inside and check?"

Kairi gave a quick nod and a smile of agreement.

Sticking close to each other, the two entered through the giant field. They constantly pushed aside the surprisingly large plants, as they plunged deeper into the unknown yet bizarre wilderness. Eventually, Sora and Kairi arrived at an open area within the flowery fields. They continued to walk forward, but also looked around to see more, large colorful plants standing around them.

They glanced at the strange-looking insects that suddenly flew in front of them. Their wings resembled pairs of buttered bread. They landed on top of a large leaf, and they aligned next to each other to form a whole loaf of bread.

Sora and Kairi were left with quizzical looks on their faces.

"Were those…butterflies?" Kairi asked.

" _Bread-_ and- _Butter_ flies, my dear."

"Oh, right. Thanks…Huh?!"

Sora and Kairi immediately turned around, but they found nothing but giant flowers. They furrowed their eyebrows.

"Did one of those flowers just talked…?" Sora asked Kairi.

Kairi quickly shook her head. "N-no! Of course not. Flowers can't talk."

"Or…could they…?" Sora placed a hand under his chin.

Suddenly, they were caught off-guard by a large red rose leaning over to them. Its now-visible face formed a loving smile.

"Well, of course, we can talk, child!" The Rose said.

Sora and Kairi then heard the purple iris speaking as well.

"IF there's anyone worth talking to." The Iris spoke.

Then the daisy spoke as well.

"Or about!" She then laughed enthusiastically.

The Rose turned her attention back to Sora and Kairi, who both recovered from the shock. She placed her leafy hands on her sides.

"Now, back to you two children." The Rose spoke.

The Daisy pushed up the white petals on her head as if she had hair.

"What garden do you two come from?" The Daisy asked.

Sora and Kairi gave the Daisy a hesitant yet kind look. They had no idea how the talking Flowers would react to what they really were.

Sora started to speak, while embarrassingly scratching his nose.

"Um, we don't…actually come any garden." Sora said.

The Daisy quickly gasped and shook the Iris excitedly. They looked at Sora and Kairi incredulously.

"Do you suppose they're actual wildflowers?!" The Daisy asked.

Sora and Kairi shook their heads.

"Uh, no, we're not...wildflowers, uh..." Kairi spoke.

The Rose placed her "hands" on Sora and Kairi's shoulders while giving them another loving smile.

"Just what specie, or perhaps genus, are you, my dears?" The Rose asked.

The Iris suddenly groaned.

"Oh! And please don't tell us you're another couple of weeds like that 'Alice'!" The Iris mentioned.

Sora and Kairi widened their eyes and turned their attention to the Iris.

"Alice?!" Sora and Kairi asked at the same time.

The Daisy groaned too.

"Oh! Yes, I know! Such a misfortune for anyone to run into a weed!" The Daisy said.

The Rose nodded in agreement.

"Indeed." The Rose smiled again at Sora and Kairi. "Now, what are you two?"

Sora and Kairi quickly glanced at each other, and then back at the Rose.

"Actually, we're…humans." Kairi said.

The Rose looked at them incredulously.

"Humans? Oh my…!" The Rose responded.

As the Rose placed one of her hands under her face, the Daisy spoke once more.

" _Human_? I've never heard of a flower like that before!" The Daisy remarked.

"No, you nitwit! _Human_ isn't a plant. It's another, much larger organism!" The Iris corrected.

The Rose moved closer to get a good look at Sora and Kairi.

"Or so we thought." The Rose added. "My, my, I expected them to be…bigger. Well, I suppose looks _can_ be deceiving…"

The Daisy smiled at Sora and Kairi.

"Well, large or not, these two _humans_ look rather ravishing! They're just as beautiful as us!" She remarked.

Sora and Kairi were left speechless by the daisy. They only smiled at her for those kind words. The Iris started to stare at them.

"Even so, I thought humans were usually separate. Single." The Iris said. "These two are together. Why is that? Is that a special kind of _human_?"

The Rose waved her hand at the iris.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous! I've learned enough to know what this is called."

Sora, Kairi, and the two other Flowers stared at the Rose with anticipation. The Rose had soon spoken, but Sora and Kairi would start to glow redder than the talking Rose herself.

"Love." The Rose answered.

The two kids looked at the Flower incredulously.

"U-uh…!" Sora and Kairi stuttered.

"Ohh, I see now." The Iris responded with understanding. "So these two are, uh…"

"Boyfriend and girlfriend." The Rose finished. "A couple."

The Daisy clasped her hands together in a romantic manner.

"Ohh, how touching and sweet!" The Daisy looked at the two kids. "Tell me! Is this what you call, an anniversary?! Is that why you came to our home?!"

Sora stood there baffled, while Kairi frantically shook her hands. She spoke first.

"N-n-no! It's not like that…!"

The children flowers spoke out.

"We can sing a song for you two!" They said together.

Sora and Kairi widened their eyes at them. Not only did the children flowers surprise the two, but they were also embarrassed by their assumed status as a couple. As the Flowers continued to chat about Sora and Kairi being a couple, Sora quickly looked at everyone.

"C-can we please just drop this for now?!" Sora pleaded.

The Rose quickly nodded.

"Oh, right, right! Apologies. It is quite rude to intrude on such a loving couple!"

Sora and Kairi sighed annoyingly.

"Now, for what reason did you come here?" The Rose asked.

Shaking their heads and finally cooling down, Sora and Kairi looked at the Rose in seriousness.

"We're trying to prove Alice's innocence." Kairi said. "She's been accused of stealing the Queen's heart."

"We tried talking to the Cheshire Cat to see if he knew where to find evidence but—"

The Flowers widened their eyes at them.

"Did you just say the Cheshire Cat?!" The Daisy spoke.

"That cat is completely mad!" The Iris added.

"And scary." The children flowers said together.

The Rose raised her hands in front of them.

"Now, now. Settle down." The Rose looked back at Sora and Kairi. "Actually, we've recently encountered him."

Sora and Kairi widened their eyes at her.

"You did?!" Kairi asked.

"Really?!" Sora asked simultaneously.

The Rose nodded.

"Of course, but, he brought two strange, pink boxes to our home. These contained some odd contents." The Rose remarked.

The Rose then pulled her arms back and reached for the two pink boxes. Once grabbing them, she brought them over to Sora and Kairi. They each picked up a box and opened them to see what was inside. The insides of the boxes were shining brightly.

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Footprints?" Kairi said.

Sora instantly pulled his head back in disgust. Kairi noticed this.

"Ugh! Some sort of Stench?" Sora asked.

Kairi giggled at Sora's behavior for a brief moment, before looking back at the Rose, who spoke again.

"That was all the Cheshire Cat left behind here, if that helps you two at all." The Rose said.

Closing the boxes, Sora and Kairi smiled and nodded at the flower.

"Thank you. We appreciate it." Kairi said.

Sora looked at Kairi.

"C'mon! Let's go free Alice!" Sora said.

"Right!" Kairi nodded.

Sora and Kairi turned around and made their way to the Queen's courtyard. The Daisy quickly waved goodbye at them.

"Enjoy the rest of your date, you two!" The Daisy shouted.

Sora and Kairi jolted as they heard the flower refer to them as a couple. Their faces started to flush a dark red color after hearing more of the flowers joining in.

"Enjoy your date!" The children flowers said.

"Play nice!" The Iris said.

The Rose looked at them seriously.

"Now, now! Don't be so bothersome! After all, they're just kids!" The Rose said.

Sora and Kairi sighed annoyingly again. The blush on their faces probably wouldn't leave anytime soon.

* * *

Donald and Goofy had already returned to the courtyard, standing next to the bizarre jury. They found no evidence, even after dealing with the annoying Tweedle brothers. Hopefully, Sora and Kairi had brought back something that could help prove Alice's innocence.

Right on cue, Sora and Kairi arrived at the courtyard with confident expressions on their faces. Each of them carried a pink box in their hands. Everyone looked at the two walking this way.

"We have evidence, Your Majesty!" Sora exclaimed.

The Queen of Hearts stared at them from afar.

"Do you?" The Queen questioned.

Sora and Kairi nodded. Alice, Donald, and Goofy watched them present their evidence to the Queen. The Queen of Hearts started to shout again.

"Cards! Retrieve their evidence!" The Queen ordered.

Following her command, the card soldiers marched over to Sora and Kairi, and grabbed the pink boxes. They placed them between the Queen and the small podium. The Queen shouted again.

"Now, bring forth my evidence!"

Suddenly, two more card soldiers came marching in with their own pink boxes and placed them with the other boxes. There were now four pink boxes in total. In a flash, they were randomly sorted around from their initial locations. Afterwards, all of the boxes were aligned again, but each one was in a different spot.

"All right. You may choose ONE box." The Queen ordered.

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were baffled by the Queen's actions. This was clearly not a fair trial; this was more of a mind game. Before Sora or Kairi could move, the Queen pointed at the former.

"YOU, specifically, may choose ONE box. No one else!" The Queen clarified.

Sora glanced at Kairi, who returned the look with her own worried one. Calmly smiling, Sora nodded her to Donald and Goofy, signaling her to be at their sides. Kairi soon gave in, as she reluctantly left Sora with the four identical boxes.

Sora looked back at the boxes and took a deep breath. He then looked up at the Queen.

"So only one box?" Sora asked.

The Queen shot an angry look at him.

"You dare defy me?!" The Queen shouted.

Sora raised his hands up as a means of calming her down.

"Alright, alright! I'll choose!" Sora said.

Sora walked towards the line of boxes. His eyes scanned over each box carefully. One mistake and they'd all lose their heads for sure. While Kairi and Alice eagerly waited for Sora to choose a box, Donald and Goofy were chewing on their fingers out of desperation.

Getting a strange feeling from the rightmost pink box, Sora gulped in nervousness. Trusting his instincts, he pointed his finger at that box. Everyone looked directly at the box Sora was pointing, including the Queen.

"Is that your choice?" The Queen asked.

Sora nodded at her.

"Very well," the Queen looked at one of the card soldiers, "open it."

The card soldier walked up to the box and removed the lid. He quickly fell back in surprise as a Soldier Heartless jumped out of the box. In an instant, the Heartless mindlessly vanished into a small void of darkness. Alice, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy sighed with relief while Sora smiled triumphantly.

The Queen rose from her throne, "What in the world was that?!"

Sora looked at the Queen, "There's you evidence! Alice is innocent!"

The Queen started to fume with steam and fury. Sora thought to himself about how she could have steam come out of her head and ears like that.

"SILENCE! I AM THE LAW HERE!" the Queen slammed her fists on her podium. "Article 29: Anyone who defies the Queen is guilty!"

Sora and Kairi gawked at her, while Donald jumped in frustration.

"That's crazy!" Donald screamed.

"CARDS! SEIZE THEM! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" The Queen ordered.

After the smaller podium disappeared, a red cloth covered Alice's cage, completely hiding her from view. The card soldiers quickly mobilized themselves around Sora. Sora saw every one of them pointing their weapons at him.

One of the card soldiers went in for a swing, but Sora jumped on top of his head and quickly hopped off. He made his way to Kairi and the royal assistants as he rolled onto the ground and stood up in front of his friends. He brought forth his own weapon, just as his three friends did.

"ATTACK!" the Queen shouted.

Donald and Goofy stood in front of Sora and Kairi.

"You two get Alice out from that cage! We'll hold them off!" Goofy said.

Sora nodded and rushed to the cage with Kairi. Two card soldiers charged in their way with weapons readied. Kairi managed to bash one of the card soldiers with her Keyblade, while Sora flipped over the other card soldier and quickly knocked him from behind.

They quickly reached the cage as Sora reached his hand out for the cloth. He pulled the cloth from the cage, but when Kairi and he looked inside, nothing was there. There was no Alice. There weren't any traces of her escaping. Just complete emptiness.

Sora and Kairi widened their eyes in shock.

"She's gone!" Sora shouted.

Instantly, the fighting from behind had ceased. Funny thing is that they were _about_ to land hits on each other. That was until Sora interrupted them by announcing Alice's sudden disappearance.

Everyone's eyes were on the cage. What Sora said was true. The cage was empty. Alice wasn't there anymore.

Donald and Goofy rushed over to the cage with their weapons still in their hands.

"She must've gotten kidnapped when we were fighting." Donald assumed.

The four turned their attention to the Queen, who was now shouting at her cards.

"YOU FOOLS! FIND THE ONE WHO'S BEHIND THIS! I DON'T CARE HOW!"

The card soldiers quickly scrambled around before heading out of the courtyard. Both the Queen's rage and her booming voice had struck fear into her two-dimensional army. They feared for their lives, and their necks, if they hadn't found Alice on time.

Goofy looked at the three curiously.

"Gawrsh, do ya think she went back to that room with the Doorknob?" Goofy asked.

Sora thoughtfully looked at the hole they came out of from before.

"Maybe." Sora replied. "We should go find out."

Nodding in agreement, the four rushed to the hole leading to the previous room. Entering the hole, they ran through the dark tunnel. While moving forward, they finally saw a bright light at the other end of the hole. They came closer and closer to the light, hoping to see Alice safe and sound on the other end.

Once they came out of the hole, however, they were shocked to see what was right in front of them.

The whole room, which used to be large and empty, had turned into a much smaller room with several furniture lying around. The walls and ceilings were colored pink, and the door at the other end became more curved instead of rectangular. There was a couch on the right wall, while there was a chimney on the other. The table was still standing in the center, but there were also a single chair near it. There were two bottles sitting on top of the table, one of them being the drink that shrunk the four to a smaller size.

"What?!" Donald shouted.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows.

"How…did this all change…?" Sora wondered out loud.

"How indeed?"

The four looked up at the table. The Cheshire Cat suddenly appeared while showing his usually wide grin. He lied on the table with an elbow resting underneath him.

"Would you four like to come up here?" the Cat offered. "You'll have a better view from higher up."

Goofy tilted his head at the Cat.

"Better view?" Goofy echoed.

Despite their suspicions, the four had no choice but to meet with the Cheshire Cat as they walked towards the chair near the table. One by one, they climbed onto the chair, and then jumped and climbed onto the table. After everyone was present, they faced the Cheshire Cat, who then stood up.

"The shadows should be here soon…" the Cheshire Cat spoke again, "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"

With a playful chuckle, he pointed up at the ceiling before vanishing. Looking up, the four adventurers saw a large Heartless dropping down. It landed on the ground with its arms, right before springing over the table and landing on its feet. Unraveling its paper-thin arms, the large Heartless stood up and fully revealed itself.

Its head was made of several black and red segments balanced on top of each other. Each one sported the same glowing yellow eyes and jagged mouths. Its very small body was covered in black armor with large red shoulder pads. Its spindly legs had red on the upper halves, while having black on the rest of the legs. Its feet were black, flat, and curled at the tips.

Crossing its arms the Trickmaster Heartless pulled out a pair of juggles clubs. Juggling the clubs around, the Trickmaster was ready to face its smaller enemies. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons and got into a fighting stance.

Sora made the first move, leaping at the giant Heartless. He delivered a swift three-hit combo at the Trickmaster's head before finishing it with a powerful vertical strike. Suddenly, its arm swung over and knocked Sora flying to the bricked surface of the chimney.

"Sora!" Kairi and Goofy shouted.

Hitting the hard surface with his back, Sora briefly grunted in pain. Before the Trickmaster could move forward, Kairi and Goofy quickly jumped over and took a swing at the head of the Heartless, bashing it sideways. After they fell onto the ground, Donald brought his staff up in the air.

"THUNDER!" Donald casted.

Soon, a lightning bolt struck down on the Trickmaster, who barely flinched at the shock. Turning its head to the magician, it lit up its giant clubs on fire before twirling them around in its hands.

Donald raised his staff up again.

"THU—ACK!"

Donald was knocked back by a powerful swing from one of the Trickmaster's arms. He was sent back from the table, painfully bouncing his way to the front of the now-sleeping Doorknob, who was snoring loudly and being unaware of what was currently happening.

Sora slowly stood back up, using the wall as support. With the Keyblade in his right hand, he took a deep breath as he prepared to use his Flowmotion abilities. He hopped onto the bricked surface and launched himself at the Heartless.

Sora pulled back the Keyblade as he was flying towards the Heartless. The Trickmaster, however, saw this coming and pulled its right arm to its side. To Sora's surprise, the Heartless swung its flaming club at Sora, hitting and knocking him back. He went flying and crashed into another wall.

Kairi saw Sora landing flat on the ground.

"Sora!" Kairi screamed.

"Kairi!" Goofy shouted.

Kairi turned her head back to the Trickmaster Heartless, which was about to swing one of its flaming clubs at her. Suddenly, Goofy ran in front of her and guarded them with his shield. Unfortunately, the great strength of the Heartless arm caused Goofy to knock back into Kairi, painfully forcing them back away from the Trickmaster.

Flickering his eyes open, Sora painfully pushed himself off the ground. He breathed out in pain as he struggled to stand up.

"My, seems like you're not fairing well."

Sora turned his head to the left to see the Cheshire Cat reappearing with his wide grin.

"Y-y-you…" Sora said.

The Cheshire Cat chuckled.

"Yes, me." The Cat replied. "You know, I expected so much more from a Keyblade Master like yourself. But, then again, I suppose not all things are what they were expected to be."

Sora looked at the Cat incredulously.

"You…how do you know…about the Keyblade?" Sora breathed.

The Cheshire Cat chuckled again.

"Oh, my dear boy, there is little you can keep from me. But, there is plenty I can give to you…"

With a snap of his fingers, a blue-white aura surrounded Sora. He felt a cold breeze moving through him. Goosebumps arrived on his skin. Opening his mouth, Sora saw his own breath entering the air.

The coldness suddenly disappeared. Sora turned his head at the Cheshire Cat, giving him another incredulous look.

"What…did you do?" Sora asked.

The Cheshire Cat joyfully wiggled his fingers in the air.

"Magic!" The Cheshire Cat exclaimed. "I assumed that it would be best that a Keyblade Master like yourself should start somewhere. So why not start with a dash of Magic?!"

Sora blinked in confusion.

"But…how do I…?" Sora began.

"Just focus with your Heart." The Cheshire Cat explained. "I suppose that's one concept that you're very familiar with."

With a small chuckle, the Cheshire Cat faded away. Sora looked back at the battle. Kairi was still down and unconscious from the previous attack, while Donald and Goofy were doing their best to fight off the Trickmaster. Unfortunately, the Trickmaster knocked Donald back again before turning its attention towards Goofy, who was now cowering behind his shield.

Sora quickly stood up and pointed his Keyblade at the moving Trickmaster. Kairi slowly regained consciousness as she opened her eyes to see Sora up and pointing his Keyblade at the Heartless. She wondered to herself about what Sora was about to do.

Closing his eyes and reopening them, Sora took a deep breath and concentrated. He suddenly felt a great, powerful surge flowing through his Heart. From his Heart, the sudden surge of power then flowed through the Keyblade. The tip of the Keyblade gained a layer of frost, as a large sphere of blue-white energy surrounded it.

The Trickmaster pulled its right arm back as it was ready to take another swing at Goofy. The knight closed his eyes as he tried to protect himself with his small shield. After a few seconds, however, Goofy felt nothing. At the same time, he felt a little cold.

Slowly opening his eyes, Goofy saw a snowflake falling down in front of his face. Widening his eyes, he quickly looked up to see a now-frozen Trickmaster. Icicles were hanging from its arms and legs.

Soon, the frozen figure tipped and fell over before shattering into a million pieces. A large Heart floated upward and disappeared. Goofy was shocked as he turned his head to Donald, who was just as shocked as the knight was.

"Uh, Donald…did you do that there, uh…?" Goofy referred to the destroyed Heartless.

Donald shook his head.

"That wasn't me." Donald admitted.

"Sora, how did you do that?!" Kairi shouted out.

Donald and Goofy jolted as they turned their attention to Sora, who was still pointing his frost-layered Keyblade at where the Heartless was standing. While Sora tilted his Keyblade, Kairi ran over to him.

They looked at his Keyblade with curiosity. Donald and Goofy soon joined them.

"Did you just use magic?" Donald asked.

"Y-yeah. I guess so." Sora answered.

Goofy smiled at him.

"Gee, Sora, looks like you're getting the hang of it already! Maybe you'll even become a better mage than Donald is!" Goofy said.

Donald jumped up to bash Goofy in the head. "YOW!" Goofy shouted.

"Shut it, ya big palooka!" Donald shouted.

While Kairi chuckled at the conversation between the two royal assistants, Sora was busy staring at his Keyblade. The magic that he was given had felt familiar. It was almost as if he's used it before…but how?

"Splendid! You're quite the hero!"

The four adventurers turned their attention to the Cheshire Cat, who was standing on top of the table again.

"If you're looking for Alice, she's not here." The Cheshire Cat said.

"What?!" The four shouted.

"She's gone. Off with the shadows, into darkness."

With that, the Cat faded away, leaving the four with worried looks on their faces.

"No…" Sora muttered shamefully.

Donald looked at the three with seriousness.

"Let's go back to our Gummi Ship! We might find her in another world!" Donald proposed.

The other three nodded at the duck. Goofy then spoke out.

"But we're gonna need to grow back to normal size first." Goofy said.

Looking at their surroundings, they noticed the abnormal comparison between their small sizes to the large room.

"Right." Sora and Kairi nodded.

After drinking from the second bottle, the four adventurers grew back to normal size. They quickly retreated to their ship and left Wonderland for good.

* * *

In the unknown room, the mysterious figures looked at the green glyph, which projected Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.

"Wretched cat…" One figure spoke out. "He's got a loose tongue, he has!"

Another figure spoke, "By the Kingdom, I do swear…he should have been disposed of the very moment he refused our offers."

A third figure responded, "Eh…'bit too late for that, big guy."

The leader's voice echoed across the room.

"We need not concern ourselves upon these trivial matters. Of greater importance is the progress of these two children. They have vanquished yet another of our powerful Heartless. This merely demonstrates that the power of the Keyblade is growing stronger."

The others stood there and listened as their leader continued to speak.

"Time is of the essence. But worry not…"

Another dark figure walked amidst the circle of dark figures.

"We will gather all of the Princesses very soon. And no mere child will stop us."

The dark witch turned to the dark figure, who soon revealed himself wearing a glass mask.

"Isn't that right, Vanitas?" The dark witch asked.

Vanitas smirked under his mask while letting out a dark chuckle.

"Of course."

* * *

 **'Kay so next up is Olympus Coliseum.**

 **If there's anyone who's doubting about where this story's going, or that this all seems too parallel to the actual game, DON'T WORRY.**

 **I'm including Big Hero 6 in this before they arrive at Hollow Bastion. There also may be a possibility that Treasure Planet will be included as well. But, we'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Anyways, I'll see you guys next time.**


	10. More than Brawns

**DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts franchise belong under the names of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix. No copyright infringements are intended.**

* * *

Chapter 10: More than Brawns

The Olympus Coliseum.

Here lied a stadium where great, powerful warriors from around the universe enter and compete in deadly tournaments to truly test their strengths. Some may fight for fame; others may fight for fun and glory, while few my fight to satisfy their greed. Inhabitants of this world visit the Coliseum to watch the games there, betting or cheering on their favorite heroes.

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had found themselves standing in front of the large gates of the Coliseum. On each side of the tall doors was a giant golden statue of an gladiator holding a golden sword up high. The two statues crossed swords over the large door. Small pedestals covered the ends of the sandy landscape.

Sora and Kairi stared at the magnificence of the Coliseum. Donald and Goofy were dumbfounded by the bodacious design of the stadium.

"Wow!" Goofy said.

"It's huge!" Sora remarked.

"The Olympus Coliseum!" Donald explained. "A place where everyone around the universe gather to fight each other in a combat tournament!"

"Combat Tournament?!" Sora jolted in excitement.

The three other travelers looked at Sora surprisingly. Sora was suddenly jumping with joy, as he was unable to hold in his enthusiasm. Kairi instantly smiled at Sora's jumpy nature.

"Wow, Sora, I never knew you'd be that into fighting." Kairi chuckled.

"Ahyuk! Yeah, it's kinda sounds like you wanna compete in the tournament!"

Pausing for a moment, Sora suddenly shook off the overexcited aura that just surrounded him. Perhaps some sort of competitive streak was lingering inside himself. He looked at them while scratching his head embarrassingly.

"Oh, right. Sorry! I don't know what came over me…" Sora said.

Donald looked at everyone.

"Come on, let's go inside!" Donald said.

The four travelers entered the small lobby of the Coliseum. In it, were small bowls of fire that lit up the entire room. The walls were smoothly designed with tan bricks, and trophies of different sizes sat in cases rooted onto the bricked sides. On the right side of the lobby, there was a giant block of stone sitting on the ground.

On the opposite side of the room, there was another entrance covered by a wooden sign that read, " _ARENA CLOSED_ ". Beside it, there was a small man whose lower body resembled that of a goat, while his round upper body was shaped like a man.

This short goat-man was standing on top of a pedestal with his back turned to them. He was currently writing on a sign that read, " _Rules"_ , with a piece of chalk.

The four travelers walked up to the goat-man, who didn't bother to look at whoever was walking to him.

"Um…" Sora spoke out.

The goat-man let out a sigh of relief.

"Good timing. Think you can give me a hand and move that pedestal over there?" he pointed his chalk at the large stone block sitting by one of the walls. "I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

Sora scratched his cheek as he looked at the block of stone sitting nearby.

"Uh, sure, I guess…" Sora said.

Donald crossed his arms at Sora while giving him an annoyed look.

"Oh, so now you're in somebody's janitorial staff?" Donald mocked.

Kairi and Goofy quickly stifled their giggles while Sora shot back an annoyed look at Donald.

"Knock it off, Donald." Sora responded.

Sora walked over to the large pedestal and placed his hands on its side. He used all of his strength and pushed his hands against the stone. Unfortunately, they remained on the same spot, as Sora's shoes scraped the stoned floor as he moved. He looked at Kairi.

"…Uh, a…a little help…?!" Sora asked.

While Donald shook his head at the Keyblade wielder, Kairi walked over besides Sora and placed her hands on the same side of the pedestal. They both pushed with all of their strength combined, but it still wasn't enough.

"Geez, what's taking you so long?!" The goat-man asked.

Sora and Kairi pulled their hands off the pedestal and looked at him.

"It's way too heavy!" Sora responded.

The goat-man jolted up after hearing those words.

"What?! Too heavy?!" the goat-man threw his chalk on the ground. "Since when did you become such a little—?"

The goat-man turned around to see two kids, a duck, and a dog standing in front of him. He widened his eyes in surprise.

"Oh. Wrong guy." the goat-man raised an eyebrow. "But what the heck are you here for anyway?" he hopped off the pedestal and walked up to them. "This here's the world-famous Coliseum—heroes only!" The goat-man started walking towards Donald, who slowly, and uncomfortably, backed away from him. He continued to talk. "And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks!"

Donald fell back on his rump after the goat-man stopped moving. Sora and Kairi only pouted angrily at him, offended by the goat-man's term "pip-squeak".

The goat-man sighed as he walked over to the large pedestal. "Look, it's like this..." the four travelers' eyes followed the moving goat-man, "Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

Donald crossed his arms while giving him an angry yet serious look.

"You got heroes standing right in front of you!" Donald exclaimed.

The goat-man turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"'Scuse me?" The goat-man asked.

Goofy kindly placed each hand on Sora and Kairi's shoulders, while making a huge smile on his face.

"Yup! These two are real heroes chosen by the Keyblade!" Goofy exclaimed.

Donald nodded. "And we're heroes too!" he proudly referred to himself and Goofy.

Suddenly, the goat-man's eyes widened and his brows rose up.

"Heroes?" the goat-man pointed at both Sora and Kairi, "Those two lil' runts?!" he quickly laughed, his voice echoed across the many large halls of the Coliseum.

Sora shot an angry look at the goat-man. "What's so funny? We've fought a bunch of monsters!"

The goat-man laughed even harder, holding his stomach while leaning over. He suddenly pointed at Sora and Kairi, expressing disbelief that those two were "heroes". After five more seconds of laughing, the goat-man quickly calmed down and looked at them seriously.

The goat-man pointed his thumb at the pedestal.

"Hey, if you can't even move this…" he quickly placed his hands on the pedestal and pushed, "…You can't call yourself…" however, the goat-man had trouble moving the stone block as well, "a hero!" the goat-man suddenly fell to the ground, exhausted from attempting to push the heavy block.

Sora and Kairi only shot withering looks at him, while Donald shook his head annoyingly. Goofy just stood there and watched everything happen.

Panting, the goat-man pushed himself off the ground before looking back at Sora and Kairi.

"Okay, so it takes more than brawn…" the goat-man said.

"So, does that mean you're going to let us in?" Kairi asked.

Furrowing his brows, the goat-man stood up and shot an angry look at them.

"No way!" the goat-man raised up two fingers "Two words: You guys ain't heroes!"

Sora counted the number of words on his finger, which confusedly added up to two. Kairi and he exchanged looks, while Donald raised an eyebrow at the goat-man.

He pointed his thumb at the entrance. "So beat it!"

Having no other choice, the four begrudgingly left the lobby and returned to the front side of the Coliseum. Sora sighed in disappointment.

"So much for true strength…." Sora remarked.

"Yeah…ain't he a stubborn old goat, eh?"

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy turned back to the Coliseum to see a tall, blue-skinned figure with a blue-flaming head. He wore a black robe that covered most of his body except for his big blue arms. The blue man had an arm lying against a stone platform. He almost looked like he was waiting for them.

Donald shot an angry look at him. "Who are you?"

The man pushed himself off the platform and raised his hands in front of the duck.

"Whoa, easy there, fuzz boy." The man walked over to Sora and Kairi. "Wait, let me guess. You two kids want to enter the games, right?" Suddenly appearing right behind the two, he placed a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Well, then, hey, get a load of this."

The man stuck out a hand between Sora and Kairi. Appearing in a dark-blue light were four three rectangular pieces of papyrus. On each center showed a symbol consisting of a cloud with a lightning bolt right underneath it.

"A pass?" Sora gave the man a quizzical look.

The man chuckled as Sora grabbed the passes. After removing his hand from Sora's shoulder, he walked towards the opposite gates, which were the entrance to the whole area.

"It's all yours. Good luck, you two. I'll be pulling for you." The man said.

The four quickly returned inside the lobby and met with the goat-man again. The goat-man expressed disbelief when seeing them return.

"You four? Didn't I make it clear that you guys—huh?"

Sora presented in his hand four passes, much to the goat-man's surprise. He quickly snatched them from Sora's hands and carefully looked at them.

"How'd you get this?" The goat-man questioned.

Donald crossed his arms at him.

"Does it matter?" Donald asked.

"So can we enter the games now?" Sora asked innocently.

The goat-man's face was filled with suspicion and uncertainty. After brief a moment of hard thinking, however, he gave in.

"…I guess so." The goat-man looked up at the four. "But first, we're gonna start with some training. Gotta see what you four are capable of. Think you can handle that?"

Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had determined looks on their faces.

"You got it!" Donald answered for everyone.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another place, the same mysterious blue man was conversing with another spiky-haired man.

He had blue eyes, and a lean and toned build. His blond hair had small spikes sticking out in every direction. A silver earring was on his left ear. He wore a high-collar, black shirt with a long black sleeve over his left arm. A shoulder plate was placed over his left shoulder. He sported a pair of black gloves. His chest was covered with two straps held in place by a wolf-shaped badge. He wore black pants and black boots, along with a black waist-cloak that covered his left leg.

Holstered on the man's back was a huge sword wrapped in bandages. The blade design on this sword was complex, almost as if six smaller swords were somehow fused into a much larger one.

The spiky-haired man was lying against a stone wall with his arms crossed.

"Alright, Spiky, listen up," the blue man said, "we both already know you're a shoe in for the semi-finals. But once you get up there, you'll be crossing swords with two kids holding giant key in each of their scrawny little hands. So, what I'm gonna need you to do is to…" the man menacingly slid his finger across his neck, "end them. Ya got that?"

The spiky-haired man narrowed his eyes at him.

"Hades, the great god of the Underworld, is afraid of two small kids?" he mocked slightly.

Hades pointed his finger at him.

"Hey, hey," Hades warned, "those _kids_ are stronger than you think! Now, look! I just need you to strike them down with that huge…kitchen knife of yours. Make sure they don't come back up. Got it?!"

The blonde only shook his head in disagreement.

"Not gonna happen. My contract says—"

The flames on the Hades's head flared up. "I KNOW! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW?!" He poked his finger on the blonde's chest. "I WROTE the CONTRACT! I KNOW it says you're ONLY required to kill Hercules in this tournament, but you gotta fight these brats to get to him!"

The blonde swordsman remained unwavering from the wrath of Hades. The god of the Underworld quickly simmered down as he slid his hand back across his flaming hair. He nonchalantly placed his bony hand on Cloud's shoulder.

"Come on~, it's like that old goat says, 'Rule 11: It's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it'!" Hades raised an eyebrow. "I mean, a casualty or two along the way's no big deal, right?"

The swordsman only glared at Hades before shrugging his hand off his shoulder. He walked away with the Lord of the Dead glaring at him from behind.

"Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home. Still…suckers like him are hard to come by…"

Suddenly, a deep-sounding, vicious growl echoed right behind Hades. Appearing in the dark were three pairs of ferocious eyes and three sets of sharp teeth.

* * *

Inside the Coliseum, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were currently being trained by the goat-man, whose name was Phil.

Sora and Kairi were in one practice arena, where they were currently destroying barrels as part of their exercise. Goofy was running through Phil's dangerous obstacle course rigged in another arena. Donald, however, was busy casting spells as Phil himself was coaching him through.

Sora quickly smashed through each barrel with ease, using a combination of his Flowmotion abilities and his physical combat prowess. Kairi, on the other hand, was having a hard time keeping up with Sora. She heavily swung and smashed each barrel with her Keyblade.

Unlike Sora, Kairi didn't have much experience in fighting. She never wielded a wooden sword or sparred with anyone like Sora did during that one time with Tidus. Sure she fought the Heartless before, but Sora technically did most of the fighting, especially against the two Heartless leaders that they've faced. Overall, she's pretty much lived a safe, ordinary life until she encountered Sora.

Sora had just finished smashing every one of his barrels, sliding and twirling on the ground with a confident smile on his face. He looked up at Kairi, who still had about three barrels left to smash. Because he didn't want to interrupt her, Sora stood by and patiently waited for Kairi to finish up.

After a short while, Kairi had finally destroyed the last barrel. She let out a sigh afterwards before looking at her Keyblade thoughtfully.

She had a feeling that she may not be getting any closer to improving herself. Kairi felt that she was still going in a straight line; she wasn't getting better nor was she getting any worse. She just wanted to know what she could do to change that.

As he swung the Keyblade over his shoulders, Sora turned around to see Kairi standing still as she stared down at her Keyblade. He tilted his head at her in curiosity.

Wanting to know what was chewing her up, Sora called out to the young Keyblader.

"Kairi." Sora called.

Getting out of her thoughts, Kairi quickly turned her head to a curious Sora.

"You feeling okay, Kairi?" Sora asked.

Kairi quickly made a reassuring smile and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sora skeptically raised an eyebrow, as Kairi slowly pointed her eyes at the ground. After a few seconds of silence, he saw her opening her mouth again.

"Um, actually…" Kairi looked up at Sora again, "do you think you can teach me how to fight better?"

Sora looked at Kairi. He was mildly surprised by how she was doubting herself already. In fact, he didn't expect her to do so at all. Sora thought Kairi did fine in all of the worlds they'd travelled so far. After all, she'd managed to fend off the Heartless, let alone vanquish them into nothingness. She'd even withstood against the much larger Heartless, such as the one in purple armor or the other with the giant, flaming clubs.

Then again, she did have Goofy at her side. Maybe it was that Kairi just wanted to prove herself that she can be stronger, that she doesn't have to burden anyone with her vulnerability anymore.

But what surprised Sora the most was that Kairi wanted _him_ to teach her how to fight. He never recalled teaching anyone how to fight, according to his limited amount of memories. What could someone like him know about teaching anything? At the same time, however, Sora felt flattered that someone like Kairi actually looked up to him with respect, unlike Phil. So, he told himself that there was always a first time for everything.

After blinking his eyes, Sora formed a kind smile on his face speaking to a self-conscious Kairi.

"Sure! Why not?" Sora answered.

Kairi smiled back at Sora, happy that he was willing to help her out.

Sora walked in front of Kairi with his Keyblade hanging to his side. Kairi looked at her young teacher with anticipation. Sora opened his mouth.

"Let's start with your posture first."

* * *

Twilight Town.

The city in an endless sunset. This subtle place happened to be one of he largest worlds ever known. Countless people lived in this quiet, peaceful world. Trains were used as a common form of transportation to get across to distant areas. This city is also recognized for its delicious sea-salt ice cream. It was also where the so-called "Struggle Tournaments" were held. Struggle had been considered to be a common sport in this city. Although it appeared to be a simple fighting competition, there were about three different weapons known as "Struggle Bats", each suited for one's own fighting style.

While some worlds resided in the Light and others in the Dark, Twilight Town was located between both. Not many Heartless lurked inside this huge city, but there was without a possible reason to explain why. Usually, Heartless can appear in numbers in just about anywhere, but not in this particular world. It was a mystery as to why Twilight Town had lacked a significant number of Heartless.

Inside a two-storied house, a fifteen-year-old boy was sitting on top of the bed, his arms wrapped around his knees.

He had blond, spiked-up hair. He was dressed in a black coat ornamented with silver necklaces, along with black gloves and black shoes.

He had two blue eyes, but they were blank of any emotions. His face lacked an expression as well. His empty eyes stared into the sheets in front. The boy was as still as stone, as he refused to budge since whenever he got onto his bed. But then a voice called to him.

"Roxas?"

The boy, Roxas, slowly turned his head to the door. Standing by the entrance was a young girl just about his age. She, too, had blue eyes and blond hair, which draped over her right shoulder. She wore a small white dress that reached to the top of her knees, along with a pair of blue sandals.

Roxas look at the girl without uttering a single word, but she could tell in his eyes that he was curious as to why she came to him. The girl only gave a gentle smile as she looked at him.

"I just wanted to check up on you, to see if you were okay." The girl answered.

Roxas turned his head back to stare at the sheets again. The girl started to walk up to the boy before sitting in front of him on the bed. She took a look at Roxas's eyes and face curiously.

"Roxas, did you get any sleep recently?" the boy didn't respond, "You look kind of tired."

"…fine…" Roxas partially muffled through his coat, still not looking at the girl.

The girl's face slowly formed a worried expression. "When was the last time you slept?"

Roxas's eyes moved slightly to the right. His neck slouched down behind his knees.

"…two…weeks ago…"

The girl closed her eyes, her concern for the boy now growing drastically. Opening her eyes again, she looked back at a tired Roxas very worriedly.

"Roxas, you need to sleep." She said. "It's not going to be good for you if you keep it up. You could pass out at any time."

The girl could see Roxas's hands tightening his grip on his sleeves. His face now had a mixed expression of guilt and sorrow. She hoped she didn't hurt him too much.

"…sorry…" Roxas answered quietly.

The girl reached her hand over to one of Roxas's hands and held it gently.

"It's okay, just…just forget what I said. Okay?" The girl smiled gently.

Roxas nodded. "…yeah…" he muttered.

The girl still looked at him. "So, why couldn't you sleep?" she asked.

Roxas blinked. "...nightmares..."

"Nightmares?" The girl slowly grew concerned. "What about?"

Roxas slowly opened his mouth.

"…I…I…"

She could see his mouth quivering as it remained open, unable to speak any more words. Quickly realizing her mistake, she shook her head at Roxas and gave him a concerned look. Roxas looked at her confusedly.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. I understand." The girl answered.

Looking at her, Roxas nodded slightly.

"…okay." His eyes were on the sheets again.

The girl looked at Roxas carefully. She carefully analyzed his current outfit, moving her eyes from top to bottom. She raised an eyebrow.

 _Has he been wearing that same outfit?_ The girl pondered to herself.

Feeling the girl's stare on him, Roxas looked up as his eyes met hers. Suddenly, the girl smiled cutely.

"Hey, how about we go shop for some new clothes for you?" the girl suggested. "It's probably best if you got out of those soon."

Roxas pointed at his black coat while looking at the girl innocently. She nodded happily at him. The boy's eyes were back on the sheets.

"…I…don't want to trouble…you…" Roxas answered.

The girl shook her head at him. "You don't have to worry. I want to do this for you. Besides, you should probably get out of this house more too." She smiled

"…um…"

The girl went to Roxas's side as she tried to get a better look at his face. Roxas closed his eyes while letting out a light sigh. He then opened his eyes halfway.

"…okay…" Roxas answered.

The girl tilted her head at him, almost as if she was waiting for Roxas to say something. He turned his head to her as he noticed her expression.

Roxas sighed again.

"…can we…shop for some clothes…?"

The girl smiled at him. "What's the magic word?"

Roxas swallowed. "Please…Naminé…?"

Naminé giggled as she made another adorable smile on her face. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around Roxas in a caring, friendly embrace.

"Okay."


End file.
